Is veal cruel? Caroline Stacey More than any other meat, veal raises cries of protest for being 'cruel' in its production methods. Will campaigns for higher-welfare British veal change consumers' perceptions?

In this article

Veal campaigns What is veal? White is not right

British rosé veal Buying British veal No veal deal

Continental trade The meat of the matter

Veal isn't a popular meat in the UK. Even many hardened carnivores won't touch the stuff. Veal accounts for a mere 0.1 per cent of the meat bought in Britain and fewer than 1 in 100 households buy and eat it, according to the English Beef and Lamb Executive (Eblex), which represents those meats and runs the Quality Standard Mark assurance scheme.

But, say a growing number of chefs, retailers and animal welfare bodies, carnivores shouldn't dismiss all veal as unacceptable. In January 2008 the Department for Environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) announced the aims of a 'Forum' of UK organisations who have pledged to help encourage UK consumers to buy welfare-friendly British veal. Members of the Forum, led by the RSPCA and Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), include supermarkets, retailers, farmers' groups and animal welfare organisations.

Like the Good Veal Campaign, launched in 2006 and backed by the likes of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Sophie Grigson, the aim is to highlight production of high-welfare 'rosé' veal in Britain, and to encourage more people in Britain to buy and eat it.

Although veal is a popular meat in Continental countries such as Italy and the Netherlands, it has never been so in Britain. Much of its continuing unpopularity is doubtless a result of the well-reported, and inhumane, practices used to produce white, or milk-fed, veal that is produced on the Continent.

White veal is no longer produced in the UK, where animal welfare standards for veal are much higher than those required by European legislation.

If you drink milk you have a responsibility to think about what happens to the male calves

Veal is meat from young calves, slaughtered when they are about six months old. In many countries, including the UK, veal is bound up with milk production and mostly comes from bull calves born to dairy cows. Organic farmer Helen Browning of Eastbrook Farm, one of the few farmers producing and selling high-welfare British veal says, 'if you drink milk you have a responsibility to think about what happens to the male calves'.

Milking cows are separated from their calves after giving birth and made to continue lactating. Female calves can become milkers, but the herd does not need males and dairy breeds are not ideally suited to rearing for beef. So redundant calves can be kept with the herd for a few months and then killed for veal.

But with no market for veal our dairy farmers still have to dispose of the unwanted calves. The choice is horrific: either shoot them when they're a few days old, or condemn them to a horrendous fate by exporting them to Europe, where veal production thrives. There they will be reared in conditions that are illegal in the UK.

White veal, which is not produced in the UK, has been rightly branded as cruel. The calf is confined to a crate to restrict its movement and atrophy the muscles. This, combined with a liquid diet low in iron and roughage, makes the meat tender and anaemically pale. In the UK, where welfare standards are higher, crating has been illegal since 1990.

Although crates were banned throughout Europe in 2007, slatted floors, which make it difficult for the calves to stand up, are still allowed and the space allowance per animal remains relatively small. The dietary fibre in their diet is still less than the UK minimum requirement.

British veal produced to the highest welfare standards has pink, not white, flesh and is tender and delicately flavoured. Called 'rosé veal' it is the meat for the conscientious carnivore.

Calves are suckled by their mothers, eat natural food and live outdoors in summer. The calves live for about six months, enjoying a longer life than many pigs.

The RSPCA gives high-welfare veal its approval with its Freedom Food label and would like more meat-eaters to buy it. But production can only be driven by demand. Until demand grows unwanted dairy calves will continue to be shot or exported.

British rosé veal should be getting easier to find in major supermarkets, most of which are members of Defra’s veal Forum. Marks & Spencer stocks only high-welfare, UK-reared rosé veal and have stopped stocking imported white veal. Tesco has phased out imported veal and is stocking UK-reared high-welfare veal. All Waitrose own-label veal is British, from calves raised on a diet of milk, water and roughage, reared in open housing with natural light and straw bedding. It is sold in the majority of its stores and cuts available include osso bucco, rib and tenderloin. The meat is pink, though Waitrose doesn't call it rosé veal. In January 2009 Sainsbury's introduced Freedom Food-approved British veal to 20 stores across the UK. Cuts include mince, escalopes, rib chops, T-bone, osso buco and shoulder.

A good independent butcher should be able to respond to customers' requests. Ask yours for British veal. Members of the Guild of Q Butchers are committed to British beef. For the widest choice of cuts, try buying direct from the farm over the internet. Organic rosé veal from Eastbrook Farm, a founding member of the Good Veal Campaign, is sold via Helen Browning Organics. The Alternative Meats website sells rosé veal from farms monitored and approved by the RSPCA Freedom Food scheme.

Animal rights campaigners and vegans would like to see an end to dairy farming altogether

Not everyone is convinced about high-welfare veal, however. Animal rights campaigners and vegans would like to see an end to dairy farming altogether. Milking cows is intrinsically unnatural and cruel, they argue, as the cows must be made pregnant and then separated from their calves to lactate. Then there's the attendant killing of the male calves.

Although vegan campaigning organisation Viva! welcomes any improvements in animal welfare, it will not endorse any standards for meat or dairy production. Hence it opposes even high-welfare veal. "There is no such thing as humane slaughter and home-grown veal is not a solution. If people drink milk, baby calves will be killed for food," says Justin Kershwell, Viva! campaigns manager.

Because British dairy farmers have no market for their veal, thousands of live calves are exported from Britain to supply the Continental market. High-welfare veal campaigners hope that a stronger home market will mean that fewer animals will be making the journey to the Continent each year. A spokesperson for the National Farmers' Union (NFU) says, "The key to reducing calf exports is to develop [home] markets, so the calves are worth more at home than they would be abroad."

"A solution needs to be found for the dairy calves that are shot at birth or exported at two weeks old just because they had the misfortune to be born male," says Gill Sanders, head of campaigns at CIWF. That's why last year a group of farmers, chefs and food activists such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have joined the Good Veal Campaign.

Despite objections to dairy farming and unless consumers' attitudes to veal change dramatically, as long as there are milking cows in this country there will be unwanted dairy calves. If more meat-eaters choose to eat high-welfare British veal, the result could be less suffering for thousands of veal calves.

Updated February 2009