NFUS ‘ShelfWatch’ shows mixed results by supermarkets
© Holger Burmeister/Alamy Stock Photo Scottish supermarkets have been showing strong support for Scottish milk and eggs, but could improve support for pork, lamb and chicken, according to results from a survey by NFU Scotland (NFUS).
NFUS commissioned an independent research firm to audit more than 15,000 individual products, including beef, lamb, pork, chicken, dairy, potatoes, vegetables, and soft fruit, across 73 different supermarket stores in May.
Scottish beef accounted for 58% of own-brand beef in the stores’ surveys, while Scottish lamb only accounted for 31% of the total offering.
See also: NFUS ShelfWatch survey a ‘mixed bag’ for Scots producers
Discount retailer Aldi was once again the strongest supporter of Scottish produce out of the major supermarket chains, with 45% of own-label produce from Scotland in May, followed by Co-op and Lidl.
Sainsburys, Tesco and Asda were found to be the three worst performing at 10%,12%, and 13% of Scottish produce, respectively.
There was a very marginal improvement overall in support for Scottish produce in the May survey compared with a similar survey in January.
Platform
NFUS president Martin Kennedy said: “On behalf of farmers and crofters, NFU Scotland is continuing with its ShelfWatch project, shining a light on where and how Scottish produce is being made available to consumers.”
He added: “This now gives us a solid platform for more detailed discussions with retailers and policymakers, which we will now embark in order to try and affect positive change.
“Part of that dialogue will be on fair and transparent labelling. The ability for a staple product like bacon to carry ambiguous and confusing labelling on whether it is of UK or EU origin underlines our previous calls for labelling reform at a UK government level.”
UK produce
Marks & Spencer had the highest combined produce support for Scottish and UK own-brand products with 85% overall, followed by Co-op at 84% and Morrisons at 83%.
The two lowest performers for UK produce were Lidl at 71% and Tesco at 73%.