Eat veal says the RSPCA

The RSPCA and Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) are joining forces to launch a campaign to get veal back on the British dinner menu. After years or campaigning agianst veal many are thinking why the sudden turn arround.

"Veal shouldn't be a dirty word," said Rowen West-Henzell, food business manager for CIWF. "There is a process of re-education that needs to occur. British rose veal is something we are happy to endorse."

High-welfare veal is known as rose veal, as calves are not fed the restricted, low-iron diet that is needed to produce the traditional white veal meat.

Veal is widely eaten in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy, but currently has a limited market in the UK.

"Over the next year we will be promoting the consumption of rose veal as a way of dealing with the problem of wasted bull calves," said Ms West- Henzell.

Last year around 260,000 young, male dairy calves were condemned as "waste products" in the UK, as they don't produce milk and are rarely used for beef due to their low muscle tone. These animals are either shot at birth or exported to the Continent.

British veal was recently brought to the public attention on the Channel 4 show The F Word, in which the journalist Janet Street-Porter raised veal calves as part of her attempt to encourage people to eat more British veal.