FREEDOM FOOD

Delicate in flavour and tender in texture, veal is the meat from young male calves, that are less than a year old. These are said to have a better meat to bone ratio than older steers, such as yearlings. British meat marked with the RSPCA’s Freedom Food scheme is selected. This ensures calves have been cared for according to the charity’s strict welfare standards. The market for compassionately-bred veal is growing as a humane response to the number of male calves produced in the milk industry. Female cows need to calve regularly to be able to supply milk. Female calves are kept to join the dairy herd. Today, male calves in Britain go to produce two types of veal. Rosé veal is a pink-coloured meat, from young animals aged between eight and 12 months old, raised on beef feed. Calves bred over spring and summer are likely to have been grazed outside. This meat has a visible grain. Milk veal comes from animals up to six months old that have been fed from a nurse cow. Barley straw is also included in their diet. This helps keep the meat very pale in colour. In flavour and texture it is nearer to chicken than beef. Like all red meat, veal is a good source of B vitamins and zinc. Pound for pound it contains half the fat of lean beef.