NFU Conference 2013: Shoppers want more British food in stores – NFU
Three-quarters of shoppers think supermarkets should sell more food from British farms, according to an NFU survey.
In the wake of the horsemeat scandal, more than 86% of shoppers said they were as likely or more likely to want to buy more traceable food that has been produced on British farms.
A further 78% agreed or strongly agreed that supermarkets should sell more food from British farms.
The survey, which was carried out by One Poll, involved 1000 adults aged between 18 and 55.
It was released on the opening day of the union’s national conference in Birmingham tomorrow, which is due to be addressed by Tesco chief executive Phillip Clarke.
NFU president Peter Kendall said he believed that shorter and more traceable supply chains would help to alleviate the problems of recent weeks.
“Our research demonstrates the strong demand for British-farmed products, and so retailers, processors and food service companies have a responsibility to ensure there is clear country of origin labelling on the products that consumers purchase.
“Fifty-one per cent told us they find the information on food origin either confusing or very confusing. This has to change.”
Mr Kendall said farmers were furious about the horsemeat contamination as they had spent years working to ensure the British supply chain was fully traceable from farm to pack.
Retailers needed to work on re-building consumer trust and improve transparency in the supply chain.
“More needs to be done to make labelling clearer and the NFU lobbies hard on this issue,” he added.
“For consumers I say be more demanding. Ask your retailers where the food they are selling comes from and look out for the Red Tractor logo carrying the Union flag to know the food you are buying is produced to good standards and traceable from farm to pack.”
Read more from the 2013 NFU conference