A CAUTIONARY TALE

[Moggiedee]

Hi everyone. I have suffered with IBS for over 30 years. Mostly IBS C. Over the past few months things have been going quite smoothly with very few painful episodes or toilet issues but all that changed at the weekend. On last week’s ASDA order I chose what I thought were fresh chicken thighs but when delivered turned out to be frozen (entirely my mistake).i cooked 2 on Sunday, had 1 for my tea & the other Monday lunchtime. They were very tough & tasteless. Late Monday afternoon the pains in my stomach started & gradually got worse & worse through the night & the following day accompanied by gurgling & wind ( lots & lots of it). Feeling a bit better today(Wednesday) I had heard on the news that some supermarkets were selling frozen Polish chickens that had been injected with antibiotics for some reason or other so I had a look on ASDA’s website & guess what, my chicken is POLISH.I am usually so careful scrutinizing ingredients & labels on things I buy & know I only have myself to blame but ASDA & other supermarkets should never have stocked it in the first place. Am seriously thinking about becoming a vegetarian or just sticking to fish in the future. Just urging everyone to be careful with what you buy because it seems that supermarkets don’t give a **** about what they are selling us.

[Misspomfrey]

I'd just have fish if I were you, I'm pretty sure they've been injecting meat and poultry for years with all kinds, to get them fat fast and ready for the table in a fraction of the time it would take naturally. I stopped eating meat in the late 1970s and fish is a rarity, in fact, now, I think I am more vegan than vegetarian, even white fish seems to kick things off for some reason, so I avoid it. I wouldn't trust what they do nowerdays with anything, that's why I never eat out and stear clear of processed foods as much as possible.

[loveyourbunny in reply to Misspomfrey]

fish is grossly polluted these days from toxic waste in the sea, I gave up sardines on my salads a long time ago when I read that the mediterranean sea was so polluted , mercury and stuff I've been veggie for 50 years mainly raw food and cooked veg. Had my own goats for milk and cheese, no way will I have pasteurised milk, it feeds bad bacteria and kills good. Now I use plant milk but as regards cheese I use non rennet vegetarian I think vegan cheese is too processed like the meat substitutes. Don't keep animals now 8o yrs old. My weakness is roquefort I wish I could give it up for ethical reasons, Poor ewes have lambs taken away, always made pregnant just for the money. Having your own is acceptable but adults don't need milk after there are weaned, just habit and I like white tea, we lose the rennin in our stomachs that digests it. Any way good healthy natural food is best. That's what our bodies were designed for. Too many additives, pesticides, anti biotics are bound to cause gastric distress along with the massive current distress in the world today. Grow your own where you can. Food needs to be prepared with love, my Mum used to say, food made or consumed while stressed will turn to poison. I think she may be right. That's my rant done, I am currently stressed with life in the country today.😠😠😠 No offence to anyone on this site

we must keep on keeping on. LOL Kay

[BabsyWabsy]

The lack of scrutiny for imported foodstuffs may be behind this. However, it is not legal in UK to sell foods with antibiotics in them. Have you spoken to Asda about this?

[CockeyMoor]

I never buy anything meat or chicken from ASDA now ever since my hubby worked as an animal health inspector . He could tell me that the meat labelled first quality was second quality. Their food often turns off before expiry date too.

I live in Blackburn so we have the ESSA brothers so I wouldn’t put ASDA past doing anything.

Best place to purchase Chicken and Meat is off a market stall with the farmer at the helm. Just knowing the source and the welfare is the best. I also find that any welfare reared Chicken and Meat in supermarkets is ridiculously expensive.

Fo you remember mad cow disease. Other countries were not admitting it and just burying the cows.

We were honest in Britain and so everybody stopped buying British.

Always buy British if you can because our welfare is far better. Lots of cons on packets where meat is imported but packed here so they label it to mis-lead.

Hubby used to always say not to buy danish bacon because it was injected with water. Happens a lot to plump up chicken .

[loveyourbunny in reply to CockeyMoor]

Simple! Just give up eating animals, dead food no energy. An old vegan friend calls carnivores 'corpse crunchers' we all have free choice on this planet though.

[tryfan004]

Hi Moggiedee, I buy organic (soil association) meat from Riverford Organic. They are online and deliver all over the country. They cost a lot but at least it is traceable with no antibiotics in it. I just eat less meat but better quality.

Hope you feel better soon.

[Clarbear1]

I bought these frozen asda chicken thighs for my dogs as the usual British chicken ones were out of stock. They looked horrible once cooked, grey and tough. Even the dogs weren’t impressed. They were very fatty too. I ended up throwing the rest of the pack away.

[Moggiedee]

Hi Thank you everyone for your comments & ideas. If I could still grow my own fruit & veg & keep chickens I would, but my allotmenteering days are long gone (I'm 84) so I am at the mercy of supermarket deliveries. Years ago we could only buy food that was in season, milk that was delivered daily & fresh bread from the bakers that didn't have 101 ingredients in it. Nowadays so much fruit & veg comes from abroad & we have no idea how it is cultivated or what insecticides it may have been sprayed with. Some may call this availability progress but at what cost to our health! xxx

[Zantecat in reply to Moggiedee]

It is atrocious how much rubbish is allowed into our food , basic foods like bread , a staple food, should be nutritious, safe and dependable instead we need chemistry degrees just to read labels.. all so wrong x

[Luisa22]

The weird thing about (my) IBS is that it's made me very very sensitive to things I never used to be sensitive to. I used to have a cast iron digestion and could eat basically anything.

Sounds like that might be what's happening to you? Sensitive to things in food?

Yes, definitely don't get that chicken again. Get a good organically fed, possibly free range chicken if there is such a thing now because of the bird flu epidemic? Sainsbury's used to do some nice ones. They usually look a bit different -yellow-ish, but don't let that put you off. Plus they are more expensive.

Then for meat, you could try organic grass fed meats. Yes, way more expensive of course.

But if you stop eating meat it's not the end of the world. I only ever have fish (of all kinds including tinned wild salmon) and eggs for my basic protein, backed up with small amounts of nuts, natural peanut butter, and sunflower seeds. Occasional spoonful of peeled chickpeas.

I completely understand how we can become sensitive to foods, how they are processed, or additives that are in them etc. For instance, I can only eat a handful of chocolate brands. Some really upset my gut. That small handful never do. Just because of what's in them...or not.

I can eat Galaxy chocolate, but daren't eat Galaxy caramel chocolate bars. Weird but true.

There are even some mineral waters that upset me where others don't!

[Zantecat in reply to Luisa22]

Totally agree, but unfortunately an organic chicken drumstick is probably out of most people’s budget, but then again no food should be cheap ever.

[Luisa22 in reply to Zantecat]

Yes I just looked on Eversfield organic meats for home delivery, and they have a chicken box for just under £30. It looks like there are a lot of pieces in that and they would keep in the freezer, but it's hard to tell how many meals that would do and could be eaten in maybe a week. Less if there's a family to feed! A weekend! Organic meat is a lot more expensive.

I don't eat meat, but I do eat fish and eggs. The eggs are often organic but the Tesco frozen cod and haddock steaks etc won't be. It's nice though. Plus tinned fish. I seem to do alright on just fish and eggs for main proteins.