The chickens one is an interesting point, and I only focus on it as its one of the few areas of retail where I've been on both sides. The chicken from Indonesia, or indeed a lot of our turkey meat which now comes from Brazil, was reared in exceptionally good conditions. Also, it wasn't a case of farmers being 'held to ransom' by westerners, it was a case of farmers starting up in exceptionally poor remote areas specifically to produce the birds, therefore the jobs were created by the western meat industry, not hijacked where they could be supplying locally, and created a much-needed income stream for the community. (This wasn't some eco-mentalist fairtrade company by the way, they are a huge multinational who were just interested in good business).
Conversely, I've been in some chicken farms in the UK which were horrendous and had far worse conditions, with minimum-wage employees who didn't give a monkeys. So as a consumer, I can buy chicken which is cheaper and reared to a good standard from abroad where because the job was so precious the people there really took care in their work, or from the UK which may be in exactly the same or worse conditions and is more expensive to boot. Don't believe the oft-repeated mantra that 'foreign' farming supplying supermarkets means poorer conditions for the livestock.
The chemicals argument is also somewhat hollow, as is the sometimes-used CO2 footprint where buying locally is considered greener. There was an article a while back, (BBC Focus science mag I think when they did a green issue, or maybe New Scientist, can't remember which) which compared the CO2 footprint of apples from Kenya versus apples from Somerset, being bought from a shop in the Midlands. Per apple - due to their production and volume the Kenyan ones had a much lower CO2 impact despite being flown and were pretty much exactly the same age when they arrived in the shop so were just as fresh. Also, growing fruit in a hot climate can use fewer chemicals than growing it here.
So, buying imported meat from a supermarket can mean providing jobs and an income for people who otherwise would be subsisting at best, can mean reduced CO2 impact and can mean fewer chemicals used. Its not always bad.
And for those posts who said importing chicken to the UK from Indonesia was madness, the Brazillian turkey market is huge now and is another a major source for meat import. However, the breeding stock for those chickens in Indonesia was coming from Peterborough, and almost all the commerical turkey produced in Brazil originates in Cheshire before going there and eventually the meat coming back here...! Now that truly is mad!
By the way Ashley - re: your time spent shopping. To be absolutely accurate, I don't often go to Tescos for my main shopping, they come to me, far easier...
