Waitrose has come under fire from growers for claiming that its broccoli is available to shoppers at a lower price than last year despite the current economic climate.
Senior vegetable buyer Richard Bickerton last week suggested that a number of vegetables are being stocked in stores across the country at “accessible” prices at a time when the rest of the UK grocery sector is feeling the strain of the credit crunch.
But the British Brassica Growers’ Association (BGA) has hit back at the retailer’s claims, accusing it of simply trying to garner publicity.
The BGA’s vice chairman Alistair Ewan argued in the Fresh Produce Journal that the statistics are not like-for-like ones because broccoli from California was being imported into Britain last year.
“Waitrose is confusing the figures and has swept under the table the huge losses that growers faced last year, hence the consumer had to pay more for vegetables .”
Ewan added that growers are currently receiving 10 per cent less than their sustainability level and, as a result, are facing a “make or break situation”.
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