Madrid

The consumer minister, Alberto Garzón, has been involved in a new controversy related to meat.Last summer, and coversing the WHO recommendations, promoted a campaign to reduce meat consumption that did not sit well in the sector and neither in Moncloa.Pedro Sánchez, in fact, responded with a praise of chuletón to the point.

The origin of this second controversy has been an interview published in the British newspaper The Guardian and subsequently misrepresented by the Motorial Sector Magazine, which disseminated a news entitled: "Garzón states in The Guardian that Spain exports meat of poor quality of abused animals".

The president of Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, who has regional elections in sight, loaded the inks against the Minister of Consumer.Some having read the original interview...And others do not.

Garzón, to try to undo the mess, has published the complete transcription of that interview.A text in which, by the way, the concept "poor quality" does not appear.What the minister does is compare the meat from farms in extensive - animals raised outdoors and largely fed with natural pastures - from Asturias or Castilla y León (which he speaks very favorably), with those ofMacrogranajas of "4.000, 5.000 or 10.000 head of cattle ".In his opinion, the first is more sustainable and of higher quality.

"The interview took place on December 14 and was posted in a version narrated on December 26.The bully began on January 3 promoted by the lobby of certain large companies that promote pollutant macrogranjas...And the rest you know, "Garzón said on Twitter.

IGP Ávila meat: "Okay in everything"

But, beyond political affinities and the lack of touch that many blame, does the affirmation of the consumer minister logically have?Pedro l.Herraiz, Secretary of the IGP meat of Ávila, acknowledges that his opinion has varied after reviewing the exact statements of Garzón.

"I agree with everything.I am also against macroganjas and it seems crazy to create disproportionate spaces.The fact that they set population, in addition, is very relative.If you give me choose, I prefer something raised in the field ".

Herraiz speaks proudly of the model that the farmers of the PGP follow, forced to raise the calves in extensive, next to their mothers, for at least 5 months, and it emphasizes that Garzón has valued extensive livestock.

"More and more livestocks have the barley in their own exploitation and from the Regulatory Council we increasingly support that model because it seems the most optimal.That beef farms can produce their own fodder is also quite good and, from the environmental point of view, more correct ".

A matter of logic

Beatriz Robles, Food Technologist and Dietitian-Nutritionist, has also supported Garzón on Twitter: "Recommendation to eat less meat and macroganjas problems.Both endorsed nutritional, environmentally and socially.It is the same message of science, the novelty is that, finally, a politician says it ".

The same as his colleague Miguel Ángel Lurueña, author of Petroleum Gombolas: "If we consider the context, I understand that he speaks of" low quality meat "in front of that of animals raised in extensive.And that is no doubt.Extensive meat is better than intensive ".

Advantages and disadvantages

Lurueña points out that the great advantage of the flesh produced in macrogranajas is that it is cheaper, but points out that in extensive -raised animals, a different texture and composition are usually noticed, especially in the way in which fat is presented and inThe content of volatile compounds that provide flavors and aromas."The ideal would be to find the balance between one system and another," he says.

The cook María José Meda, chef of the El Batán (Tramacastilla, Teruel) hostel, with a Michelin star, states that the quality of the meat "depends a lot on whether the animal is stabulated or can leave."Corral's ecological chickens have nothing to do with chickens that do not move and only fattening.The same thing happens with the sheep ".

Meda considers that, in reality, "it does not depend so much on the amount of head of cattle and how they are treated", but in their case, without questioning that they comply with all the regulations, it prefers to avoid meat from macrogranaja."The same thing happens with people.The health of a sedentary person will not be the same as someone who does sports, "he adds.

"It depends on how things are done"

Chef Dani Lechuga, from the Bardeni El Meatbar restaurant in Barcelona, famous for its meat specialties, considers that Garzón relies on data and reports, but does not know enough about livestock.

"What he says has a certain logic, but the truth is that in the US and in Argentina there are very large farms that produce quality of quality of quality.It all depends on how things are done and not so much the size.In a farm you can feed with feed, but also with cereals.It would be necessary to see specific cases.Obviously, the Macrogranaja model is less sustainable.But I have seen very normal meats of very small farms ".

"The important thing is what is behind"

The gastronomic critic Mikel Zeberio, one of Petra Mora's responsible, says that the consumer minister "does not lack reason", but regrets that, when they think without knowledge, people mix serious issues with their political ideology.

"Organoleptically there are differences between one flesh and another, but the really important thing is what is behind.Someday we have to teach the rawness behind the farms in which caged animals live.It's a hooligan! ".

José Portas, owner of the Discarux company, which raises and distributes beefat..."All of that then translates into the taste and tenderness".

"A pig farm in intensive has nothing to do with a mountain of Extremadura, that is indisputable.But no sector likes to be touched and things can be said in another way.Sometimes politicians use very general phrases and it seems to me that they have to be much more cautious ".