Call for hospital food to come from ‘happy animals’

11:23am Friday 16th November 2012 in News

HOSPITAL patients in Yorkshire are more likely than those in other parts of the country to be served food from animals whose welfare falls below accepted standards.

The survey of every hospital trust in England found about 80 per cent of eggs served by hospitals in Yorkshire and Humber were from hens kept in cages, while only 18 per cent of chicken and 18 per cent of pork was from animals reared in conditions that met RSPCA welfare standards.

Alex Jackson, co-ordinator of the Campaign For Better Hospital Food, said: “It’s disgraceful for the taxpayer to pay for hospital food which causes misery to animals.

“The Government must introduce mandatory higher animal welfare standards for all hospital food in England to improve its quality and taste, and guarantee that it is produced from animals living happy lives”.

However, York Hospital pointed out that it had recently received a Good Egg Award from Compassion in World Farming.

Simon Johnson, production team leader at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are always looking for ways to provide a more ethical and sustainable food supply for the hospital and one of the things we do towards this is to source free range eggs.”

Comments(1)

Kathy 2010 says...
6:47pm Sat 17 Nov 12

It has been widely reported in newspapers that in many hospitals and schools in the UK meals are made with meat from animals that have been slaughtered in accordance with halal requirements and indeed that much of the meat sold in supermarkets is also halal despite being not labelled as such. I, for one, find this very troubling as I feel that animals (if they are going to be used for meat) should be slaughtered in the most humane way possible and I do not believe the halal method of slaughter is humane. At the very least meat should be labelled as halal if it is halal so that consumers are aware what they buying and can then make a choice.
And, before anyone accuses me of being racist, I have relatives who are Muslims and I completely respect and value other cultures. Indeed I honestly believe we all have a lot to learn from each other. However I cannot agree with halal meat (or kosher for that matter).
So, getting back to the article in question, I completely agree with Alex Jackson saying “It’s disgraceful for the taxpayer to pay for hospital food which causes misery to animals" and I wish that everyone who agrees would make their feelings known.

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