Tesco’s commitment to “stamp out confusion” over country of origin labelling while using its online shopping system has been welcomed by the National Farmers Union (NFU).
The supermarket’s move follows criticism by “scores of social media users” who complained that they had tried to order British lamb, clearly marked with the Red Tractor logo, but ended up with lamb from New Zealand.
“It is disappointing that the country of origin of these products is not clear to customers,” commented the NFU’s head of food chain, Ruth Mason (pictured above), highlighting the labelling issue as it applies to all British farm products.
While Tesco has now moved to make amends, the NFU said it wanted to “ensure the retailer is 100% accurate” from now on, so as not to confuse customers who are actively seeking British produce.
“We are pleased that Tesco has addressed the initial issues that have been raised and we would encourage it to identify why these errors are occurring in its systems,” said Ms Mason. “We wish to see Tesco identify and change all of the errors on its systems.”
She also urged online shoppers to make sure they double check the country of origin of the products they’re buying, to be sure of what will arrive at their doors.