Supermarkets Back Honest Food Labelling Campaign

Tue, 22 Sep 2009
 
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Supermarket chains Tesco and Morrisons have pledged their support a Conservative Party campaign, which is aimed at providing consumers with information on where the meat they buy is reared and sourced.

The Tories’ Honest Food campaign, which was launched in February, is calling for new labelling laws requiring all fresh and processed meats, as well as dairy products, to have a genuine country of origin label.

Tesco and Morrisons, Britain’s largest and fourth-largest food retailers, have signed up to the campaign and have vowed to improve labelling on products containing at least 10 per cent meat, making it clear to consumers where they are produced and processed.

They will also replace the term ‘Produced in the UK’ with the term ‘Made in the UK with meat from X’ on products that are manufactured in the UK but contain non-British meat .

Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco corporate and legal affairs executive director, said: "It is very important to provide clear information so customers can make informed choices. That is why we are so pleased to support the Honest Food campaign."

"In future Tesco meat products will display more information about the country of origin further demonstrating what can be achieved by collaboration rather than regulation."

Martin Haworth, director of policy at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), said: "We hope the new EU legislation on food labelling is used to make the country of origin labelling clearer so that consumers can make more informed choices when they shop."

"However, the new legislation will take years to come into effect so if the UK can move towards voluntarily labelling for country of origin this will allay our – and consumers’ – concerns."

He added: "We look forward to seeing more evidence of retailer support for country-of-origin labelling on supermarket shelves."

Sainsburys, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer also support the campaign, while according to the Conservatives, Asda is currently reviewing its labelling to ensure their customers have accurate information about where products are made and come from.

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