Supermarket misleading labelling

[Doc Holliday]

I like to think myself an ethical eater of meat. By this I mean I try to opt for the meat that has had as natural a life as possible, whether it be something I have shot in the way of small game or something from a decent butcher or, dare I say it, supermarket. So it is almost with a sense of irony that I am feel compelled to write this. I best explain the irony bit next otherwise it won’t make sense. Last week I called in to a service station to grab something to eat. As I browsed the aisles a reduced chicken caught my eye, £5.00 down to £2.50. ‘Bargain!’ I thought, and who doesn’t love a bargain?

I took it home and should have frozen it but didn’t. Most of the time you can get away with a few extra days grace so long as the meat is sufficiently chilled. It was decided that we would have it for dinner on the Sunday. Sunday comes and Mrs H gets the chicken out of the fridge to put in the slow cooker.

‘I’m not using it as it’s turning green in one or two places!’ she calls out to me. ‘You’ll have to nip down Tesco’s and get one from there’.

I check the chicken and sure enough there are small patches of green on the skin with the beginnings of a nasty smell. I duly make my way down to the foresaid supermarket (which is not one we frequent with any regularity) and browse the poultry shelf. My eye is drawn to the ‘Willow Farm’ brand at £4 a bird. I subconsciously pick one up and turn way but then stop. I turn back and check the prices of the ‘Free Range’ & ‘Organic’ birds. The latter being a tad too pricy but then I have an idea. ‘Let’s just see what this ‘Willow Farm’ is all about’, I think to myself.

I open the browser on my phone at a certain search engine and type in ‘Tesco Willow Farm’. Lo & behold if the results don’t lay claim that ‘Willow Farm’ is an entirely ficticious place to make this range more appealing. And do you know what’s worrying? It works. But how many people actually stop to check this type of thing out? Do we really need bull**** labelling to ease a guilty conscience on our choices within a supermarket?

I suppose what really sparked the initial research on my part was the lack of hocks on the Willow Farm bird’s legs. I remembered watching Hugh’s Chicken Run and recalled that this was a tell-tale sign that the birds had been raised in conditions that cause sores from the ammonia in their own faeces that they are forced to dwell in but I thought that after all that pressure they surely wouldn't be still doing that, but they are. All this and more made me think that, in good conscience, there is no way I could possibly buy the Willow Farm bird. Instead, I opted for the ‘Tesco Finest Free Range’ bird.

The thing is, it’s not because I want to be poncy or pretencious but I do believe if I’m going to buy meat from the supermarket then I want to be able to make an informed and educated decision and I feel that by having these bullstool labels, this takes away my right to be able to do that. Come on Tesco, and any of you other corporate food chains, stop treating us like idiots. Give us the credit we deserve and allow us to make informed and educated decisions on our purchases. Even if it just boils to down to a financial based decision because that is all we can afford to feed out families then so be it. And by that I don’t mean it has be plastered over the labelling that ‘This bird has been raised in its own faeces!’ but if it doesn’t state ‘free range’ or ‘Organic’ or even ‘Outdoor Reared’ then we can safely assume it has not been allowed to live a normal a life as possible in its short passage to our table, just don’t mislead us into thinking that it has lived its life in some kind of ‘Jolly Farm’ utopia. Be responsible.

​I think there should be a Campaign Against Misleading Labelling (CAMiL?) but I'm sure there must be one, and what happened to all that fuss that HFW was kicking off about a few years back over the conditions these chickens were raised in?

Thoughts please.

[vmaxphil]

Nothing supermarkets do surprises me anymore this issue has been raised by counntryfile awhile ago

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, have a look at the veg and salad section next time in tesco ? i think even apples to,

Edited October 11, 2016 by oldypigeonpopper

[aka_t50]

ive worked for a supermarket for the last 3 years and trust me they use allsorts of tactics to get customers to buy products and ive come to realise that there is very little you can take as 100% truth im sure this isn't just the supermarkets most food retail outlets will tell us exactly what we want to hear to get a sale as a result the only meat we can be sure of is that we harvest ourselves

[Blackpowder]

Seems to be a lot of fictitious ,'glens' among the smoked salmon products.

 

Blackpowder

[Doc Holliday]

Tesco have a list of fictional farms for all their fresh produce regardles whether it is meat, fruit or veg. The thing that really grinds on me is the blatant decepitveness of it. If they want to brandish it with a farm name then why not use the actual place where the birds were raised and slaughtered? I'm sure many of these marketing men either come fro man estate agency background or move in to it for a change of career.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Doc Holliday

[oldypigeonpopper]

Tesco have a list of fictional farms for all their fresh produce regardles whether it is meat, fruit or veg. The thing that really grinds on me is the blatant decepitveness of it. If they want to brandish it with a farm name then why use the actual place where the birds were raised and slaughtered? I'm sure many of these marketing men either come fro man estate agency background or move in to it for a change of career.

hello, nnnaaa those marketing men come from mars at the luna tic farm

[digger]

A spokesman for the major retailers admitted that giving the produce the name of English sounding farms was misleading but not illegal.

Sadly very few people read beyond the label on the item.

I try to buy my meat from the farmers market or butchers, luckily there is a farm shop near by. If they don't have what I want ( I live alone so don't need massive cuts of meat )they get it in. My daughters come for roast dinner quite often and are converts to home produced meat. Mind that may in part be as they aren't paying for it !

[Hamster]

The Willow Farm ruse amongst others has been exposed on TV already, the troubling thing is the fact that the government will not put a stop to such tactics. I have all but stopped shopping at Tesco as they're the most deceitful when it comes to marketing ploys, Asda used to be the value brand but nowadays it's one of the most expensive, they're all in denial and they're all going to continue losing market share.

 

I stopped buying regular chicken in favour of organic years ago, possibly as much as fifteen years, when occasionally I have to make do and use the cheap birds the difference in bone fragility as well as the vile chemically smell is obvious.

 

One thing I would say though is that regardless of where the bird comes from the use by dates on poultry should be stuck to, I wouldn't go a single day over.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Hamster

[UKPoacher]

What about the scandal last week where 15 migrants were found in an Aunt Bessies freezer lorry that had come over from the continent. Aunt Bessie has been rumbled! She's not British. I'm never buying her Yorkshire puddings again. From now on I'm a Grandma Batty's man!

[UKPoacher]

The Willow Farm ruse amongst others has been exposed on TV already, the troubling thing is the fact that the government will not put a stop to such tactics. I have all but stopped shopping at Tesco as they're the most deceitful when it comes to marketing ploys, Asda used to be the value brand but nowadays it's one of the most expensive, they're all in denial and they're all going to continue losing market share.

 

 

It's not just that. Under the very lax rules surrounding the originality of produce there has only to be the slightest process carried out on the product within the region concerned for it to qualify. For instance Melton Mowbray pork pies from Pork Farms are actually produced in Hungary from Hungarian products and only packed in Nottingham, which conveniently for Pork Farms has been classed as 'near enough' to Melton Mowbray to qualify.

[mel b3]

 

It's not just that. Under the very lax rules surrounding the originality of produce there has only to be the slightest process carried out on the product within the region concerned for it to qualify. For instance Melton Mowbray pork pies from Pork Farms are actually produced in Hungary from Hungarian products and only packed in Nottingham, which conveniently for Pork Farms has been classed as 'near enough' to Melton Mowbray to qualify.

i may well be wrong here , but , i thought only pork pies made in melton mowbray could be sold as such now , i hope youre wrong or my melton mowbray bubble has been well and truly burst lol.

[UKPoacher]

i may well be wrong here , but , i thought only pork pies made in melton mowbray could be sold as such now , i hope youre wrong or my melton mowbray bubble has been well and truly burst lol.

 

 

The requirement for a PGI are a good reputation of a product from a given region is sufficient (rather than objectively different characteristics) if any of the steps of production, processing and preparation may take place within the region.

[islandgun]

its safe assume that all marketing ploys are bogus in some way, all they want is your cash I think they got the idea from politicians

[Scully]

If you didn't make your findings known to Tesco then I don't see the point of your post really. You were in the shop but didnt voice your concerns? Not much of a start to your campaign is it?

[Doc Holliday]

If you didn't make your findings known to Tesco then I don't see the point of your post really. You were in the shop but didnt voice your concerns? Not much of a start to your campaign is it?

My campaign? I don't really see the point in posting when you can't even be bothered to read it properly. And what good would having a whinge to some grunt on the shop floor achieve when even faced with HFW getting himself on the board of directors still culminates in their thinking up fictional farms to make their produce more appealing? I guess I would have to bow down to your worldly experience and seek guidance as you clearly know how this kind of thing should be approached.

[955i]

What about the scandal last week where 15 migrants were found in an Aunt Bessies freezer lorry that had come over from the continent. Aunt Bessie has been rumbled! She's not British. I'm never buying her Yorkshire puddings again. From now on I'm a Grandma Batty's man!

Dude, its never cool to be a Batty man LOL

[Scully]

My campaign? I don't really see the point in posting when you can't even be bothered to read it properly. And what good would having a whinge to some grunt on the shop floor achieve when even faced with HFW getting himself on the board of directors still culminates in their thinking up fictional farms to make their produce more appealing? I guess I would have to bow down to your worldly experience and seek guidance as you clearly know how this kind of thing should be approached.

You mentioned perhaps starting a campaign in your initial post didn't you?

Its just that if I had a complaint about some retail outlet my first port of call would have been management of said retail outlet, and not PW, that's all.

[Doc Holliday]

You mentioned perhaps starting a campaign in your initial post didn't you?

Its just that if I had a complaint about some retail outlet my first port of call would have been management of said retail outlet, and not PW, that's all.

If it was general issue in that store then yes, I would approach the duty/store manager but seeing as it is a company branding issue and they would be next to powerless to do anything about it I think it would fall on deaf ears. Or even if they did pass it to then level I have no doubt it wouldn't get any further.

 

Unfortunately, due to work, etc., I don't have the time to begin one nor would I be confident in getting one started although I'm sure social media would be an obvious starting place but I merely, and somewhat tongue in cheek, threw out an acronym based on that topic. Afterall, it would seem that most campaigns seem to have one and who doesn't love a good acronym?

 

But part of my OP mentioned HFW's chicken run when he initially brought such matters to the fore but that all seems to have petered out.

Edited October 13, 2016 by Doc Holliday

[Velocette]

Whilst very lost in the hillbilly area of Somerset near Wells, I became aware of a distinctly nasty smell in the air. Set in the woods was the scruffiest industrial site I,ve ever seen and the name on the gate was Wyke Farm Cheese, the "straight from farm to doorstop" sold by Morrisons !!

[Scully]

If it was general issue in that store then yes, I would approach the duty/store manager but seeing as it is a company branding issue and they would be next to powerless to do anything about it I think it would fall on deaf ears. Or even if they did pass it to then level I have no doubt it wouldn't get any further.

 

Unfortunately, due to work, etc., I don't have the time to begin one nor would I be confident in getting one started although I'm sure social media would be an obvious starting place but I merely, and somewhat tongue in cheek, threw out an acronym based on that topic. Afterall, it would seem that most campaigns seem to have one and who doesn't love a good acronym?

 

But part of my OP mentioned HFW's chicken run when he initially brought such matters to the fore but that all seems to have petered out.

 

Fair enough. I do understand where you're coming from, but I'm the sort of person who would have relished causing shop management a few awkward moments by revealing what I'd discovered, and that I knew what they were up to regardless of the outcome. Perhaps it's worth letting HFW know what you've discovered, despite his campaign. He'll be on social media.

Admittedly my confrontational outlook has caused me no end of problems at times, but I loathe to let people think they have duped me, or those whom I care for, especially people in positions of authority, but like I said, fair enough.

[Mentalmac]

I've been in a chicken processing factory before, where large crates of chickens were being chucked from the Lorry and man handled, all squashed together then picked by their feet and put on hooks by their feet to get their heads cut off. Can't think of a worse way to find and end to a life of a animal.

[norfolk dumpling]

Even before the chucks get chopped there is a lot of deceit. I live near a chicken farm which has produced for more than 10yrs from the same small field - every 7-8 weeks - large batches of chucks sold as 'orchard grown'. The orchard is a few scruffy trees which produce nearly a dozen apples annually!

[MrM]

Just a slight aside to this, do people realise that a lot of the supermarkets "own brand" products are exactly the same as the labelled ones? I know this from having worked in engineering many moons ago, and supplying and installing equipment at places like Lyons Tetley, and watching production lines swap over from Tetley packaged tea bags to supermarket branded ones, with literally just a change of box, nothing else. Tesco branded good coffee is from the same production line as Nescafé Gold at half the price.

[GingerCat]

Happy chickens and uk reared pork for me and has been for years.