Pubs urged to back good veal campaign

Veal should be back on the menu in pubs, say chefs aiming to overturn the negative image of the meat from young calves.

A campaign for good veal has been launched to coincide with the publication of the Good Veal Guide.

Veal has been mainly restricted to Italian-style menus for many year, and is often boycotted by consumers because of the negative image of young calves in dimly lit crowded pens. Organic farmers say that their production methods actually mean animals have plenty of space and light, are outside in warmer months, and enjoy a varied diet.

The new guide includes recipes from chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Sophie Grigson, with pubs being urged to put British veal on menus and stress the that the welfare of the animals is taken into account.

Helen Browning, an organic farmer who is also food and farming Director of the Soil Association she says that consumers can play a key role in reversing what can be an uncertain future for many calves. "The calf's mother will go back into the organic dairy herd producing the pints, the yoghurts and the cheeses that millions of us enjoy every day," she says. "But what of the calf?

"The typical male dairy calf will never turn itself into a great beef animal, but good farming will produce superb meat from these livestock at a younger age. This veal should not be tarred with the same brush as the imported white slab of protein too often served in the UK."