SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has been accused of delivering a "slap in the face" to Scottish farmers by selling imported lamb beneath a banner proclaiming support for home-produce.
The National Farmers Union has criticised Britain's biggest retailer after discovering shelves of imported New Zealand lamb sitting under a banner stating "The Best Scottish Lamb in Season".
Tesco say the origin of the meat was correctly identified on the label of each pack
The union has contacted Tesco to address the situation, seen at the Tesco Extra store at Hermiston Gait near Edinburgh, to check point of sale information is accurate at all its Scottish stores and to live up to its pledges by immediately increasing its commitment to buying home-produced lamb.
The revelation came as the NFUS has embarked on a campaign to boost the profile of lamb in Scotland.
NFU Scotland president Allan Bowie said: “The deep felt anger being directed towards Tesco over this debacle is wholly justified. This is totally unacceptable. Scotland’s sheep farmers and our consumers deserve much, much better than this.
“First and foremost, why is Tesco still promoting imported lamb in shelf-filling quantities when this is peak season for Scottish and UK supplies? This makes its well-publicised pledges of support for Scottish and UK farmers appear wafer thin.
“Secondly, this kind of point of sale abuse of the Scottish brand makes Scottish farmers’ blood boil. It is difficult to put into words just how angry hard-working sheep farmers feel when they spot some excellent promotion of Scottish lamb in a Tesco store only to find the shelves below are filled with imported product.
“Consumers looking to support Scottish farmers and buy Scottish lamb would see this point of sale material, pick up a pack of lamb often without realising that it does nothing to support our sheep sector here in Scotland.
“The UK’s biggest retailer must do better. It must urgently review all of its signage in Scottish stores and ensure that where it proudly proclaims to be offering ‘The Best Scottish Lamb in Season’, then that is what is on the shelf. "
Historically, Scotland has consumed less lamb than other parts of Britain. Around 4,000 tonnes of lamb worth around £34 million is eaten each year in Scotland. About 44 per cent of Scotland's population purchase lamb at least once in the last year, compared to 57.8 percent in Great Britain.
SNP rural affairs spokesman Calum Kerr condemned Tesco for “appalling” behaviour.
Mr Kerr is to write to Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis demanding an apology and an assurance that it will not happen again and that Scottish lamb will be on the shelves instead.
The Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk MP added: “The very least Tesco can do is to promote our excellent products properly in their home market. To put up a banner saying 'the best Scottish lamb in season' and then sell a similar product from the other side of the world right underneath it is just offensive.”
Tesco said it had a track record of supporting Scotch lamb and in-store signage makes no claim that they only sell Scotch lamb. hey said all products are clearly labelled with their country of origin. Scottish, British or New Zealand.
A Tesco spokesman would not say whether they would be moving the banner or the New Zealand produce in the store.
"We sell more Scotch lamb than any other retailer," he said. "The signage doesn't make any claim that we only sell Scottish lamb.
"As lamb is in season, the vast majority of lamb we sell in Scotland is Scotch."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel