Tesco still failing at backing British lamb
New figures from the latest AHDB Beef and Lamb Watch have shown the amount of British lamb on the shelves in Tesco stores has fallen 15 per cent from 73 per cent to 58 per cent from August 2014 to August 2015.
Charles Sercombe: “Tesco support for domestic lamb is not just below average, but it appears bottom of the pile.”
NFU livestock board chairman Charles Sercombe said: “In June, NFU President Meurig Raymond tabled a question at Tesco’s AGM and urged the retailer to demonstrate exactly how it is delivering on its promises and commitments made at NFU Conference in 2013 and to give firm evidence that progress is being made. They then confirmed that the promises to source more meat closer to home – which they made nearly three years ago – still stood.
“But now, we get these figures from AHDB which seem to indicate that Tesco is saying one thing but doing another. Using facings as a key indicator, Tesco support for domestic lamb is not just below average, but it appears to be bottom of the pile. We are challenging Tesco to explain how this reduction in the percentage of British lamb sold is compatible with its open public commitments to source more meat closer to home.”
