Claire Taylor Profile picture
Agricultural communicator βœοΈπŸ“ΊπŸ“» @NuffieldFarming Scholar 2023 Columnist πŸ—žοΈ @HeraldScotland @ScottishField πŸ“§ claire.taylor12@hotmail.com

Jul 12, 2022, 9 tweets

πŸ˜‘πŸ“’ Bear with me while I air my disappointment and frustration with my local supermarkets @Tesco and @asda on their betrayal of Scottish and UK farmers during what is a deeply challenging time for the sector πŸ‘‡

#SupportLocal #BackBritishFarming

First on my lunchtime stop today was @Tesco in Kilmarnock to do a wider food shop but also pick up some lamb.

There was not one single Scottish or UK lamb product on their shelves. But a plentiful selection from New Zealand...

Then it caught my eye that most of the pork on the shelves next to it were stacked with pork from Denmark - at a time when the UK pork industry is on its knees!

Pig farmers are leaving the sector left, right and centre, reducing numbers, struggling with feed costs and backlog!

What happened to commitments @Tesco in June to source more British pork, & to support Scottish lamb, available here on our doorstep.

It is a disgrace that shelves filled with Danish / NZ meat - with none/ limited options of local alternatives.

Your posters are disingenuous πŸ‘‡

It was revealed in June that @Tesco made profits in excess of Β£2 billion in the last financial year, yet still the retailer opts for the cheapest option on its shelves, knowing that during a cost of living crisis that our minds are foremost on cost above other factors.

I thought I'd check @asda on my way home and my disappointment continued, finding their shelves filled with NZ and Australian lamb this time - not a Scottish lamb product in sight.

I asked a store member about this and they said this was their only selection πŸ‘‡

In the pork section & this time most of the pork options were from Germany! Alarm bells ringing that we are importing products from πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ when it was recently reported that African Swine Fever found in NW of the country in a major pig farming region. Does @asda understand this risk?

African Swine Fever has wiped out a quarter of the worlds pigs. It is fatal and if it enters the UK, it could wipe out the entirety of our herd.
Why are supermarkets taking a huge biosecurity risk when they could be supporting a sector in crisis & avoiding unnecessary food miles?

πŸ“’πŸ˜‘Everybody is feeling the pinch right now πŸ’° farmers & their customers forced to make difficult decisions on a daily basis, but supermarkets are turning a profit & have a duty to honour their commitments to supporting local producers - the sector is fed up of empty promises!

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