Went to Tesco today to buy a nice fat sea bass for dinner tomorrow.  It 
grieves me anyway, to be buying what the sea gives me for free.

Anyway, when I got there the only bass they had was a farmed one about the 
size of a small trout.

No wonder so many people dont try these things...camn you imagine such a 
minnow being sold on one of those superb french fish stalls??

Oh well, got lemon sole instead.  And they werent exactly at the end of a 
long life.

David

David
Tesco pride themselves on stocking local produce wherever they can.
I belong to a fly fishing syndicate and on site there is a trout farm which 
supplies various other fisheries.
It could supply our local Tesco with very fresh, fine fish but the fish are 
too big can you believe - thay only want 8  to 12 oz fish weighed after 
gutting.
The trout farm is growing them on at that weight - not killing and selling 
them.
    I have another a freind who is a cherry grower who has supplied Tesco in 
the past - and he got stuffed every year.
They keep his stock until it is on its sell be date and too late foe him to 
sell on then reject it, that which they don't sell, and dock his payment 
without any reference to him. They are Judge, Jury and Executioner..
He stopped supplying them and now makes more money that he ever did with 
them..
    The point, if there is one at all , is that whoever is breeding and 
selling the bass to Tesco probably meets their specification quite quickly 
(pan sized, fatty and tasteless) and needs their high volume business and 
the business of others like them to stay in business themselves and whilst 
they are being farmed at least those in the sea are being spared for our 
more discerning brothers.(except the Spanish and French of course)
    For anyone else interested in supplying to a major customer, unless you 
are prepared to work hard, long hours and for a song forget it..  I should 
know because I
am a buyer for a mulit-national and occasionaly my conscience pricks me for 
some of the things I do to save a dime.
What do I do to ease my conscience - go fishing of course.

K



"david" wrote in message 
news:cvfirm$iv0$1@sparta.btinternet.com...

> Went to Tesco today to buy a nice fat sea bass for dinner tomorrow.  It 
> grieves me anyway, to be buying what the sea gives me for free.
>
> Anyway, when I got there the only bass they had was a farmed one about the 
> size of a small trout.
>
> No wonder so many people dont try these things...camn you imagine such a 
> minnow being sold on one of those superb french fish stalls??
>
> Oh well, got lemon sole instead.  And they werent exactly at the end of a 
> long life.
>
> David
> 

In message <cvg534$hkd$1@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk>, Keith M 
 writes


>Tesco pride themselves on stocking local produce wherever they can. I 
>belong to a fly fishing


When it comes to fish that is absolute rubbish, since when was Greece or 
Turkey local to Tesco - that is where there farmed bass come from.

-- 
Matt - Dorset.
It only takes two-strokes to excite me (or a threesome :-))

"Keith M"  wrote in message
news:cvg534$hkd$1@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk...

> David
> Tesco pride themselves on stocking local produce wherever they can.
> I belong to a fly fishing syndicate and on site there is a trout farm
which
> supplies various other fisheries.
> It could supply our local Tesco with very fresh, fine fish but the fish
are
> too big can you believe - thay only want 8  to 12 oz fish weighed after
> gutting.
> The trout farm is growing them on at that weight - not killing and selling
> them.
>     I have another a freind who is a cherry grower who has supplied Tesco
in
> the past - and he got stuffed every year.
> They keep his stock until it is on its sell be date and too late foe him
to
> sell on then reject it, that which they don't sell, and dock his payment
> without any reference to him. They are Judge, Jury and Executioner..
> He stopped supplying them and now makes more money that he ever did with
> them..
>     The point, if there is one at all , is that whoever is breeding and
> selling the bass to Tesco probably meets their specification quite quickly
> (pan sized, fatty and tasteless) and needs their high volume business and
> the business of others like them to stay in business themselves and whilst
> they are being farmed at least those in the sea are being spared for our
> more discerning brothers.(except the Spanish and French of course)
>     For anyone else interested in supplying to a major customer, unless
you
> are prepared to work hard, long hours and for a song forget it..  I should
> know because I
> am a buyer for a mulit-national and occasionaly my conscience pricks me
for
> some of the things I do to save a dime.
> What do I do to ease my conscience - go fishing of course.
>
> K
>
>
>
> "david" wrote in message
> news:cvfirm$iv0$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
> > Went to Tesco today to buy a nice fat sea bass for dinner tomorrow.  It
> > grieves me anyway, to be buying what the sea gives me for free.
> >
> > Anyway, when I got there the only bass they had was a farmed one about
the
> > size of a small trout.
> >
> > No wonder so many people dont try these things...camn you imagine such a
> > minnow being sold on one of those superb french fish stalls??
> >
> > Oh well, got lemon sole instead.  And they werent exactly at the end of
a
> > long life.
> >
> > David

Its not just supermarkets my farmer pal (who kindly lets me shoot his land)
grew potatoes for a certain crispy potato product manufacturer (ear who
would that be then?) he would send a trailer load of spuds halfway down the
country for processing and .......... no don't like it have em back- and he
gets to truck em back wrong colour moisture level you name it. Well let me
tell you I have fried a great many of these spuds and they were gorgeous and
better than any you could buy in a supermarket or chippy but what do you do
when you unexpectedly get 18 tons of potatoes returned make a loss is the
answer so over a brew we had a chat about alternative crops and now after
years of being arsed about he grows beans and I dont get free chipping spuds
awwww
Derek

On 22/2/05 3:24 pm, in article cvfirm$iv0$1@sparta.btinternet.com, "david"
 wrote:


> Went to Tesco today to buy a nice fat sea bass for dinner tomorrow.  It
> grieves me anyway, to be buying what the sea gives me for free.
> 
> Anyway, when I got there the only bass they had was a farmed one about the
> size of a small trout.
> 
> No wonder so many people dont try these things...camn you imagine such a
> minnow being sold on one of those superb french fish stalls??
> 
> Oh well, got lemon sole instead.  And they werent exactly at the end of a
> long life.
> 
> David 
> 
> 

Plenty of other reasons to dam tescos even if it is nothing to do with
undersized fish. For a start they don't sell genuinely useful boxes of squid
for fishing with, as for the mackerel they actually do sell, it always looks
way too old to be any good for fishing, god knows why we eat it.

Ok they are a food shop, but were is the vision and imagination? 24 hour
bait shop would suite me fine when my local dealer has shut up shop for a
well earn't rest after the long hours.

They do in most European shops so why not Tescos?

George

In message <BE4BD19D.392%georgelee2@mac.com>, George Lee 
 writes


>Plenty of other reasons to dam tescos even if it is nothing to do with
>undersized fish. For a start they don't sell genuinely useful boxes of squid
>for fishing with, as for the mackerel they actually do sell, it always looks
>way too old to be any good for fishing, god knows why we eat it.


I've never seen fresh (really fresh) mackerel in a supermarket, so I 
don't eat it. It's too soggy for bait, from the beach at least. The 
blast frozen stuff from the tackle shop is far better quality; I wonder 
why they don't sell that.

-- 
Steve Walker