Herbert: supermarkets standing in way of honest food labelling
15 June 2009
The Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, Nick Herbert, has renewed his call for the big supermarkets to back country of origin labelling for meat and meat products, warning them that a Conservative Government would legislate if a voluntary scheme was not agreed.
Speaking at the South of England Show on Thursday 11 June, Nick Herbert said:
“We are letting British farmers down when it’s possible for meat to be imported into this country, receive minimal processing and then be passed off as British produce.
“It is right that British farmers should continue to meet tough animal welfare standards, but these are completely undermined when meat is bought from countries that do not abide by the same standards and then labelled as British.”
Nick Herbert welcomed the positive stance taken by Marks & Spencer and Waitrose, but accused Tesco, Sainsbury’s and ASDA of “standing in the way” of country of origin labelling, adding: “The truth is that they don’t want you to know where some of their food comes from and I think that’s wrong. Food labelled ‘British’ should be born and bred in Britain.”
He also said that the Government should do more to procure British food with its own budget.
Nick Herbert was speaking at the launch of ‘The Sussex Breakfast’, an accreditation scheme being pioneered by the Sussex Tourism Partnership as a scheme to encourage local hotels, restaurants and other venues to serve local produce.