Aldi praised for 100% British fresh meat policy
Aldi has been singled out for praise by the NFU over its commitment to source 100% of its fresh meat from the UK.
The German discount retailer offers 100% British farmed meat, reared to Red Tractor standards, across its fresh meat range.
NFU livestock board chairman Charles Sercombe accused “some retailers” of “continually breaking their promises” in their pledges to back British farming.
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But speaking at the NFU Council meeting on Tuesday (14 October), Mr Sercombe heaped praise on Aldi for supporting British farmers.
“I would like to publicly praise Aldi and the way that they have engaged with us, with the British industry and have supported British farming by the use of only stocking British produced, farm assured red meat in their stores,” he said.
“I must praise Aldi in the work that they have done to support us as we forward with the challenge to feed the people in this country of ours.”
David Clarke, CEO of Red Tractor
“Their growth in this has been phenomenal. They are benefiting from it. Their consumers are benefiting from it. I think in the long term our industry will benefit from it.”
Now the challenge was to get all the other retailers to actually back what they say and follow the example of Aldi, he added.
“I must praise Aldi in the work that they have done to support us as we forward with the challenge to feed the people in this country of ours.”
David Clarke, CEO of Red Tractor, said: “Aldi has a fresh meat range to be proud of. It is 100% Red Tractor assured all-year round.
“What does this mean for shoppers? It means that they can trust Aldi for providing quality fresh meat that has met strict standards from farm to pack, always.”
The German supermarket is planning to open 50 new stores by the end of 2014 after sales rose 36% to £5.3bn last year.
Tony Baines, joint managing director of corporate buying at Aldi, said: “We know our customers love to buy British and we have invested heavily in developing our fresh meat offering in recent years.
“One hundred percent of Aldi’s core range of fresh meat is British and Red Tractor approved and we have worked with our beef suppliers for over six years.
“At Aldi, we recognise that provenance and localism are important and for this reason more than half of our product offering is produced in the UK.
“Our dedicated UK buying team aims to work with local suppliers wherever possible. As part of our commitment to sourcing locally and supporting British businesses and agriculture, Aldi has signed the NFU’s ‘Back British Farming Charter’.”