Britain’s two biggest supermarket chains have reduced the number of organic products they stock by a third, according to a new report by The Grocer magazine.
Despite pledging to support the recovery of the nation’s struggling organic food market, the report reveals that Tesco, the UK’s largest grocery chain, has cut its range of organic lines by 30 per cent.
Meanwhile the group’s closest rival Asda has reportedly slashed the number of products on its shelves by 35 per cent.
Both retailers blamed their stock-cutting move on plummeting sales of organic produce, caused by the recession.
An Asda spokesman said. “It is common sense that when shoppers buy less of a particular category, we will stock less – this is our normal policy.”
“Our customers have said they wanted more local food in Asda, and we recently increased our range by 100 items.”
Tesco said that despite the drop in organic sales, the chain remained committed to organic and continued to provide a strong range of products at “great” prices.