NFU Scotland has unveiled Phase 3 of its ShelfWatch initiative, expressing disappointment at the decline in support for Scottish produce.
During Phase 3, an independent research firm visited 73 stores across mainland Scotland and looked at primarily own-brand beef, lamb, pork, chicken, eggs, vegetables, soft fruit and dairy products (milk, cheese, butter and yoghurt) on offer in Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Co-op, Marks and Spencer, Lidl and Aldi stores, with a total of over 15,000 individual products being audited.
In every retailer except Lidl, the amount of Scottish own-brand products dropped:
- Aldi had the highest amount of Scottish products at 35%,
- Co-op was second with 25%.
- Marks and Spencer was next with 18%.
In the latest quarter, Aldi showed the largest decrease in Scottish availability, down 10% when compared to the second quarter.
NFU Scotland also looked at UK own-brand products to give a combined ranking, finding that some Scottish produce is sold with UK branding, something which NFU Scotland is “looking to understand more about”.
In the combined Scottish and UK branded rankings, Co-op moved to first position, with M&S in second and Morrisons third. There were “modest changes” in the overall stocking of UK products, the largest increase was Tesco with 7%.
Beef
Across all stores, Scottish beef continued to account for the majority of own-label products at 56.5%, however this is a 1.7% drop versus Phase 2. UK beef accounted for 41.9% (+1.2% vs Phase 2) followed by Irish at 1.7%.
Lidl had the largest proportion of Scotch Beef (93.5%), which is a significant increase compared to May (+10.7%) resulting in them making the biggest improvement.
Sainsbury’s continued to stock the least amount of Scottish beef (7.8%, -10.4% vs May) and the highest proportion of Irish beef (9.3%). Asda (0.9%) and Tesco (0.5%) also stocked Irish beef again in this phase of ShelfWatch but at a lesser volume than in January (they did not stock any Irish in May).
Aldi had the biggest decrease in the amount of Scottish beef versus May 2024 dropping by 22.8%, from 84% to 61.2% of own-brand beef being labelled as Scottish.
Lamb
The proportion of Scottish Lamb was comparable with the previous ShelfWatch at 32% of own-label products (+0.6% vs Phase Two). The UK continues to hold the largest proportion (52.8%) followed by New Zealand accounting for 11.7%, Australia at 3.4% and a small proportion of Irish (0.1%).
Lidl continues to stock the most Scottish lamb at 92.7% of own-label (+1.8% vs Phase 2).
Asda continues to stock no Scottish lamb, with the majority (65.3%) coming from New Zealand, followed by 23.4% from Australia and 11.3% from the UK.
The Co-op had the biggest improvement in the volume of Scottish lamb stocked at +18.8%, while M&S had the biggest drop (-13.2% vs May).
Pork
Aldi was the only retailer supplying Scottish pork in all three categories.
Aldi were the only retailer to stock Scottish fresh pork - 100% of their fresh pork was Scottish. Overall, a “disappointing” 3.7% of fresh pork on the shelves is Scottish.
Co-Op, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Lidl and Sainsbury’s all exclusively stocked British fresh pork, with no change from the last report.
Both Asda (40%) and Tesco (15%) have considerable quantities of imported pork – German, Dutch and Danish. For Tesco this represents no change from the last report, but Asda have an increase of 7% for imported pork.
Aldi and Lidl were the only retailers to stock Scottish bacon, with both showing a small increase (6% and 4% respectively), although overall the quantities remain small. Last time Sainsbury’s was also seen to stock a very modest offering of Scottish bacon, but none was found this time.
Overall, the amount of Scottish bacon is only around 2%, the rest made up from the UK (45%) and the remainder coming from the EU, mostly Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
NFU Scotland said that while it was good to see Aldi and Lidl showing a small uplift in the amount of Scottish bacon they supplied, the remainder of their supply was imported from the EU, 70% and 74% respectively.
Marks and Spencer and Co-Op both carried 100% UK bacon, with the remainder relying on between 60%-75% imports from the EU for their bacon. Higher welfare standards and processing limit the amount of bacon produced in the UK and Scotland.
Aldi and Lidl were the only retailers stocking Scottish sausages in the last report. Lidl have shown a big increase of 32%, now stocking 40% Scottish. Aldi have shown a more modest increase of 4% and Asda now stock 4% Scottish sausages. The other retailers were all using 100% UK pork for their sausages.
