New investigation revealed that popular UK restaurant chains serve imported meat 

The food and farming charity enlisted an army of secret diners to interrogate children’s menus and put high street chains in a league table based on health, sustainability and dining experience.  

The Out to Lunch investigation found that some chains are not serving any British meat and only one restaurant, Nando’s, reported using 100% British meat.  

Many have ‘unsustainable sourcing practices’, according to the Soil Association, as they have limited traceability and are buying from countries outside both the UK and EU with less stringent welfare or antibiotic regulations.    

Key examples include meat being shipped from as far as Thailand and Brazil at KFC, Pizza Hut, Pizza Express, Bella Italia, McDonald’s and TGI Friday’s.   

But there are some good examples with free-range British chicken served by league table winner Wahaca, British turkey at Toby Carvery, and Nando’s sourcing all the meat on their children’s menu from the UK. British beef was on the menu for 12 chains, the charity confirmed. 

‘Businesses need to take more responsibility’

Soil Association’s senior policy officer Oona Buttafoco said: “We are disappointed to find little support for British farming across the high street. Restaurant chains are facing significant cost pressures, and we sympathise with the challenges they face, but we are concerned about the implications of their unsustainable meat sourcing practices.   

“Welfare standards can be significantly lower or less rigorously assured in many of the countries that are supplying high street chains, and the UK and EU also have far stricter standards limiting the use of antibiotics. Meat in the UK also comes with much greater traceability.    

“A failure to buy British meat therefore not only impacts the farmers on our doorsteps, but it also may have huge implications for farm animals, the environment and antimicrobial resistance.    

“Businesses need to take more responsibility, and government intervention is also urgently needed to help create fairer supply chains that incentivise businesses to choose products from sustainable farmers at home.”  

‘Too many chains are not doing enough’

In addition to sourcing meat from outside the UK and EU, nearly half of the chains surveyed fail to serve 100% farm-assured meat and therefore have limited traceability for their menus.   

Several do not have a policy on responsible antibiotic use, and only three chains, Wahaca, Brewers Fayre and KFC, were found to be serving any meat with a higher welfare guarantee, such as free-range or RSPCA.   

However, most restaurants now only use free-range eggs, and a third of the 20 restaurants have at least one organic ingredient item on the menu.   

Ms Buttafoco added: “Year after year, secret diners tell us that high-quality ingredients, like high-welfare meat, is more important to them than cheap meals when they are dining out, so we are pleased to see free-range and organic on menus.   

“But too many chains are not doing enough. We would like to see all of them bring in policies that prioritise products with sustainability and high welfare guarantees, as well as better supporting British farmers.”  

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