Always there. Not sure which shop they end up in.
There are definitely free range Ostrich in Switzerland (alive). If you take the A4 from Zurich to Luzern just before the A4 splits into the A4 and A14 on the right hand side there are some Ostrich.
Now, this one was called Daisy...
I hate the ones with a sad ending.
yes,mimi was telling me , all of us actually up in zurich that you always enjoy a happy ending.
The quality of beef in my part of Switzerland (Bern) is poor. Other meats are ok but nothing special. Prices are astronomical, even half price sales are over double those in competitive markets. Unfortunately, prices the farmers are paid are no higher than they are in other countries so famers struggle to survive. Meat at local stores comes from a variety of countries so we can't say that we are paying for Swiss quality.
Hmmm, I disagree that farmers here are struggling...
But if you compare them to the French farmers and their subventions, than yes, you can say that the Swiss farmers are "struggling".
mmm must be different values in the german speaking ares of CH then..
i can honestly say that 75% of the cars i see in border supermarkets in germany are swiss, this is especially true in the rhein centre shopping area.
in the 2 large french sumermarkets in the area is about 25% swiss cars, and a lot are from areas far away as bern.
As france had a heavy involvement in northern africa and a great amount of people living in france are muslim its like asking if bears shit in the woods
Coming back from my weekly shop across the border, I declared that the butcher had put 518gr of mince in the bag, and not 500gr as asked. The customs guy laughed and waved me off. At the side they were totally stripping a white van and finding meat under the spare wheel, wheel arches, etc! They stop many at this custom's stop, private but mainly restauranteurs/butchers- as the nearest Halal butchers is just down the road (and un-stunned meat is not allowed in Switzerland, so not acceptable to strict Muslims. With Eid celebrations soon, numbers caught are on the up, quite naturally).
Thank you all. This was a useful set of replies. I bought meat in Switzerland from the only halal butcher I could find (but now I wonder how he is so if unstained slaughter is not permitted in Switzerland). I have a decent salary, but having lived in other international cities I just find the prices are too high, and so if there is an option to buy from France then I will. I don't plan on breaking the law, so I will plan accordingly.
Once again, thanks everyone.
Unstunned, not unstained! Auto-correct got the better of me!
Sorry it is complicated. The Law in CH requires all animals to be stunned first- whichever way they are slaughtered. It is permitted to THEN cut the throat, with a prayer to be said as in ritual killing.
However, it is allowed to import halal meat killed without stunning abroad, as in the Halal butcher in Pontarlier- but it then has to be imported legally, with tax paid (which many of course try to avoid paying- restaurants and butchers who re-sell halal meat).
Sorry for bringing up an old topic but since as I just got stopped at the border and asked how much "fresh meat" I was bringing home. I decided I wanted to share this link.
This is the interesting one from that
So as long as your fresh meat is in a visible marinade you can bring 31⁄2 kilos back!
Probably not that fresh then.
But, being serious - I suppose if you had a big BBQ that weekend, you could take your own marinade with you, buy the fresh meat, chuck it in the marinade and then bring it back at the 3.5Kg per person rate.
Just checked with my friendly customs officer neighbour - the answer is a definite NOOOOOOOOOO. Which does seem to contradict the link above! Would be interesting to test this in practise though.
How so?
The law is clearly stated:
Marinated, seasoned or breaded meat Meat which has been grilled, roasted, cooked or treated in a similar way Meat which has been preserved in salt Food preparations with a meat content of more than 20% (including convenience foods) Tom
Although it does state that it's seasoning that cannot be easily removed so a quick turn with the pepper grinder or a sprinkle of juniper berries wouldn't be allowed but a sludgy mess of squeezed lemons, olive oil, rosemary, pepper, crushed garlic etc would be okay for a boned joint of lamb.
Neighbour says it is up to the Customs officer to judge. EG if he believes the meat has been bought as beef, lamb, etc, and marinated just for the purpose of getting though customs - he could deem it a 'cheat'. As said, it would be interesting to test this in practise and see who would win. Those customs officers are pretty powerful guys and usually have the law on their side.
I will ask him again when I get a chance.
Although you wouldn't be blatantly breaking the law as you are following it and so you would be within your rights to neither declare it or pay import tax.
You could always inject some for good measure!
Tom