Huge increase in the amount of chicken from China for sale in Ireland - Good or Bad?

coffeeteame

Noticing lately a huge increase in the number of chicken products for sale in supermarkets (Dunnes, Fresh) that are marked as origin CN or Produced in China to EU standards. Is this something people are aware of, want to eat or it is all just part of life in 2020 Ireland?

neris

I only buy breasts or thighs in Lidl or Tesco and would have thought a large amount of chicken sold here comes from within the EU. Are these chicken products things like ready meals?

coffeeteame

Most I'd see are frozen sections as spice bag style chicken but some are in the fridge section as breaded chicken products. I only started to take notice lately after my butcher informed me that most of his chicken now is sourced from the Netherlands but I wasn't so weirded out by chicken coming from the EU.

I've also noticed Aldi has a range of Christmas frozen products where the Duck is listed as from China also

joeysoap

I thought all the chicken in restaurants/pubs/hotels etc came from Thailand? Confess this is a new one to me.

L1011

joeysoap wrote: »

I thought all the chicken in restaurants/pubs/hotels etc came from Thailand? Confess this is a new one to me.

Brazil is another significant supplier of food service chicken to Ireland. Moy Park has been sold from one Brazilian firm to another in recent years; that's how involved Brazilian firms are in the market here.

Outkast_IRE

I only buy chicken produced in Ireland and always free range where possible . Would rather pay the extra euro for some assurance . Chinese producers are a bunch of chancers we shouldn't be letting it near the market here , same goes for Brazilian

the beer revolu

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Chinese producers are a bunch of chancers we shouldn't be letting it near the market here , same goes for Brazilian

Bit of a sweeping generalisation, there.

Savage_Henry

The breaded chicken in chicken fillet rolls from Centra are from China

bronkobilly

bought some chicken legs in lidl i was amazed to see they were from ukraine after brexit we will see a lot of products coming from other countries

endacl

Savage_Henry wrote: »

The breaded chicken in chicken fillet rolls from Centra are from China

And they’re made up of reconstituted ‘bits’. They’re only ‘fillets’ in the sense of ‘fill it up there. That has to do me till dinner’.

Odelay

See the song and dance restaurants, chippers and deli counters make about only using Irish beef. But not a word about where the other meats come from. If they were using Irish chicken they would be singing from the rafters about it.

caviardreams

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

I only buy chicken produced in Ireland and always free range where possible . Would rather pay the extra euro for some assurance .

I am the same and find a lot of Irish butchers now have NL chicken for the most part unless you specifically ask. Nothing wrong with other EU chicken but I would just prefer to buy local. I find the supermarkets a great place to get free range Irish fillets - the producer code and bord bia mark and trace codes etc. are all there.

Savage_Henry

Recently i bought M&S rotisserie cook in the bag chicken (brittish) and, im not sure, if i just cooked it perfectly, but taste wise it was like day and night vs any tesco / lidl chicken ive ever cooked. Taste and texture was miles better.

Originally its 9.50 eur but i bought with same day best before for 2.50

Savage_Henry

bronkobilly wrote: »

bought some chicken legs in lidl i was amazed to see they were from ukraine

Not great, not terrible, i guess.

the beer revolu

caviardreams wrote: »

I am the same and find a lot of Irish butchers now have NL chicken for the most part unless you specifically ask. Nothing wrong with other EU chicken but I would just prefer to buy local. I find the supermarkets a great place to get free range Irish fillets - the producer code and bord bia mark and trace codes etc. are all there.

I'd be wary of NL chicken fillets. I'm lead to believe that a lot of these are Thai chicken fillets, "processed' enough to be labelled as NL fillets.

Or perhaps this is a much held myth.

Outkast_IRE

the beer revolu wrote: »

Bit of a sweeping generalisation, there.

Honestly I don't think so , unfortunately business culture in China is often carried out on the basis that of cutting corners and screwing people over cause if your not the one screwing people over , then you are probably the one being screwed .

zerosugarbuzz

Savage_Henry wrote: »

Recently i bought M&S rotisserie cook in the bag chicken (brittish) and, im not sure, if i just cooked it perfectly, but taste wise it was like day and night vs any tesco / lidl chicken ive ever cooked. Taste and texture was miles better.

Originally its 9.50 eur but i bought with same day best before for 2.50

i only buy chicken from Marks these days, large chicken 6.99 and breaded chicken fillets in an 8 pack around 11 euro. As you say its totally different to what you get in the cheaper shops. A latte costs nearly 4 euro, how can people expect to get a decent chicken for the same price.

tamara25

Only buy free range chicken produced in Ireland. All other chicken is full of antibiotics

angel eyes 2012

Odelay wrote: »

See the song and dance restaurants, chippers and deli counters make about only using Irish beef. But not a word about where the other meats come from. If they were using Irish chicken they would be singing from the rafters about it.

I'm always conscious of this, why can't they be transparent about the provenance of chicken when they are so blatant about other local produce. I would have no difficulty paying extra for Irish chicken.

I ask in restaurants and the waiting staff look like I've two heads and mutter something about checking with the chef; at this stage I have too many doubts and end up ordering a Margherita pizza.

Stihl waters

It probably won't kill you

Dave_The_Sheep

Stihl waters wrote: »

It probably won't kill you

Glowing recommendation for food right there.

SouthWesterly

tamara25 wrote: »

Only buy free range chicken produced in Ireland. All other chicken is full of antibiotics

Cost me 9.50 to raise a chicken to slaughter at 10 weeks. Add to that the time and labour making it roughly 15euro. Would need to sell at 20 to make any profit and people only want their 4 euro bird complaining its full of antibiotics.

Manach

Given the just release BBC news reports about the Uighers, I don't reckon anything is followed to EU Human rights standards in China - so why take the chance on food.

Toulouse

angel eyes 2012 wrote: »

I'm always conscious of this, why can't they be transparent about the provenance of chicken when they are so blatant about other local produce. I would have no difficulty paying extra for Irish chicken.

I ask in restaurants and the waiting staff look like I've two heads and mutter something about checking with the chef; at this stage I have too many doubts and end up ordering a Margherita pizza.

Same! In fact I asked last week at a restaurant and the waiter didn’t bother with the usual ‘ask the chef’ routine and lied to my face that of course their chicken was free range and Irish. They have no problem saying their beef is 100% Irish so why can’t the do the same with their other meat offerings? Needless to say I didn’t order the chicken.

I asked the same question on a new fried chicken food truck’s Instagram recently, got ignored :rolleyes:

killbillvol2

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Honestly I don't think so , unfortunately business culture in China is often carried out on the basis that of cutting corners and screwing people over cause if your not the one screwing people over , then you are probably the one being screwed .

And that's different from business culture in Ireland in what way?

killbillvol2

People getting outraged because the sh1tty processed chicken they're buying wasn't hand fed on a farm in the Golden Vale. Because Irish meat processing is all above board of course. The same industry that gave you horse meat on your burgers.

Outkast_IRE

killbillvol2 wrote: »

And that's different from business culture in Ireland in what way?

Well as much as i am no fan of how pigs and some other animals are treated in Ireland, our welfare standards are a bit better than China in general.

Look at the extent of the Swine flu outbreak there in the last year and how widespread it was. Similar incredibly virulent outbreaks of Avian flu at times.

killbillvol2

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Well as much as i am no fan of how pigs and some other animals are treated in Ireland, our welfare standards are a bit better than China in general.

Look at the extent of the Swine flu outbreak there in the last year and how widespread it was. Similar incredibly virulent outbreaks of Avian flu at times.

No doubt. I've spent a lot of time in China and thinking too closely about what you're eating isn't advisable.

But people here are moaning about the origin of sh!te that's been processed multiple times, frozen and sold for peanuts.

millb

killbillvol2 wrote: »

People getting outraged because the sh1tty processed chicken they're buying wasn't hand fed on a farm in the Golden Vale. Because Irish meat processing is all above board of course. The same industry that gave you horse meat on your burgers.

The horsemeat was fairly tasty - low fat as well .

Just cooking some chicken I got in JAMES Whelan - Butchers and it's from France ......

Poor home produce support from Dunnes Stores and an Irish Butcher .......

the beer revolu

Toulouse wrote: »

Same! In fact I asked last week at a restaurant and the waiter didn’t bother with the usual ‘ask the chef’ routine and lied to my face that of course their chicken was free range and Irish. They have no problem saying their beef is 100% Irish so why can’t the do the same with their other meat offerings? Needless to say I didn’t order the chicken.

:

I'm really confused by this.
How do you know he was lying?
Free rang Irish chicken does exist.

Also, what was the point in asking as it seems that you had already decided on what the origin was?

Toulouse

the beer revolu wrote: »

I'm really confused by this.
How do you know he was lying?
Free rang Irish chicken does exist.

Also, what was the point in asking as it seems that you had already decided on what the origin was?

Indeed I know it exists, that’s the very reason I asked. I obviously hadn’t already decided otherwise I wouldn’t have asked, not sure why that confuses you.

The beef was listed on the menu as 100% Irish, chicken was not. Do you think they would bother to tell us the beef was Irish but not clarify the chickens origin it were indeed Irish? Perhaps their typist was tired.

Considering there were wings on the menu too which generally aren’t free range when I’ve asked in other restaurants, he didn’t specify the dish, just a very short sharp yes. He didn’t want to talk about where their produce comes from unlike other waiters when I’ve asked the same question and they have produce they are proud of.

I was not inclined to believe him.