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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

mumsnetters supermarket comments

82 replies

Fifichef · 30/09/2010 11:28

I would like to start a campaign that would force supermarkets to be truthful about the fresh food they sell. Do you think it would be a good idea for Mumsnet to have somewhere where we could post our comments on the 'naughties' that we discover? Mumsnet seems to get successfully involved in getting noticed in many political issues so perhaps we could get together to improve food standards.

OP posts:

scottishmummy · 30/09/2010 12:27

aunt bessie yorkies=made in factory.not a wee wummin at home

country garden/kitchen usually means a factory some place

i dont think uncle ben made my rice either

all marketing/branding sells an illusion. commercial food production is about profit. not labouring under any other belief.

and i buy largely on price.yes fancy farmers markets and fair trade grocers etc exisit but they are too pricey

perfumedlife · 30/09/2010 12:27

Even if its chilled, its a very cold version of chilled. 'Fresh' fruit from a supermarket is rubbish, it has a terrible shelf life once home, and is tasteless.

I agree with the WI campaign. Its the labelling process that is too devious.

cumfy · 30/09/2010 12:28

PNG

I'm sure OP must have meant:

Do you think it would be a good idea for Mumsnet to have somewhere where we could post our comments on the 'naughties', for me

Surely, you must be arsed now.:o

sugarlake · 30/09/2010 12:30

'Packed in the UK' with a little Union Flag sticker is very misleading.

EdgarAllInPink · 30/09/2010 12:34

" in a supermarket. It is usually flown thousands of miles, frozen. When you buy it, its solid, by the time it softens it is rotten in the middle and devoid of flavour"

which? tomatoes, cress and herbs for many supermarketscome from a factory near Littlehampton (VHBs) - they sometimes import from Spain, but all summer long, UK toms go out.

it is not 'flown thousands of miles' as that is very expensive - perhaps things like Okra might be. bananas/oranges have sufficient life to come on boats...spuds and other ground veg are mostly UK anyway (so they'd have to take them on a round trip to fly them 'thousands of miles' and where they come from overseas are again brought in by boat.

the shipping temp of produce is at least 5c - so not frozen. only salads are shipped under 5c so they go with other chilled foods (appx 1c)

produce is not kept as cold as other chilled as it damages the goods.

Chil1234 · 30/09/2010 12:35

"I realise that there are rules with labelling but food 'marketing' people are employed to get round the rules and they surely do."

I used to work for a supermarket. Now I supply them. There are big restrictions on what can and cannot be claimed about a product - particularly health benefits - and they are getting tougher. Marketing is simply about making your product more desirable and increasing its profit potential but it can be circumvented. McDonalds have decided to reposition its junk food as being 'close to nature' in recent times because they have an image problem. However, the nutrition info they post on their website is the bald truth i.e It's still junk.

scottishmummy · 30/09/2010 12:36

m&s,tesco,sainsbury veg usually uk.states farmer on label

coraltoes · 30/09/2010 12:36

Well this is why i shop at my local greengrocer, butcher and fishmonger BUT it doesn't mean I can't get annoyed when I see british produce in season but being undercut price-wise on the shelf by flavourless produce from abroad. Strangely enough other countries in western Europe are NOT dependant on UK import any more than our own farmers are! OK Kenyans will be, but strawberries from Spain when our own are so good?! Pull the other one.

The issue of the Lochmuir salmon is not the same as Aunt Bessie. It was a decision in full recognition that buyer's increasingly shop based on provenance and they knew that it would fool many shoppers into thinking it was not farmed fish but from a loch. Completely misleading. That is the job of the marketer, to turn shit into gold. The job of the regulator is to ensure we're not fooled but informed. Failing a bit in this instance I think.

It is a far greater departure from reality to try and associate it to people knitting shreddies or an uncle making rice. Those are very clearly fictitious, but if i said my salmon was wild alaskan or from loch muir, NEITHER of those would make you think "oh it is farmed"....both sound just as "wild" yet only one is. Now that is the real issue.

VivaLeBeaver · 30/09/2010 12:41

Waitrose sell Columbian Blacktail eggs. There's no such chicken as a Columbian Blacktail, not a pedigree breed anyway. Someone may have created a mongrol breed and given them this name but whats the difference between that and a brown Warren (battery hen), different colour and different name but a bog standard chicken with bog standard eggs.

lal123 · 30/09/2010 12:45

am as to why OP thinks she's be sued if she mentioned an unrecognisable named country?????

EdgarAllInPink · 30/09/2010 12:46

growing soft fruit in the UK is more difficult - high employment cost (relative to spain) and shorter growing season make it less profitable...

ShirleyKnot · 30/09/2010 12:50

"ShirleyKnot - I would be sued if I mentioned any names of countries so I'm not going there"

Sued by whom? The citizens of Oompahlahoomperland or something? I don't understand.

scottishmummy · 30/09/2010 12:56

for most of us price is determinant in purchasing goods.is a local greengrocer necessarily any beter, at mine stuff sold loose not labelled,certainly not country of origin.dont they just buy at same fruit & veg wholesale place

i am aware (pricier) alternatives exist but £2.50 for handpicked parsley when i can buy elsewhere isnt a choice i make

nickelbabe · 30/09/2010 13:14

Columbian Blacktail

it is a Rhode Island Red cross, therefore a hybrid and perfect fro laying lots and lots of eggs.
:)

nickelbabe · 30/09/2010 13:16

(and noone uses Pure Breeds for commercial egg-laying - it would be like having a shop and only opening for half an hour on a tuesday, but not telling anyoen when that half hour was. ie too expensive for the output - all commercial laying hens are hybrids (normally from point of lay for one year, and then discarded)

Chandon · 30/09/2010 13:25

I think that if you are faced with an unrecoginisably named country you could brush up on your geography?

Other than that I am with you.

It was interesting to see that the Tesco Willow Farm, and the M&S Oakland chicken comes from the SAME place. Neither is free range by the way. It just sounds like it comes from a nice farm, but is in fact mass produced.

The companies defended it, saying Willow Farm and Loch Muir are not real places, but just brand names. I think it`s a bit misleading. It has put me off M&S actually.

The other day I met the marketing manager of Sainsbo`s Soft Fruit and I told him the constant half-price strawbs annoy me (not because I do not like Half Price Strawbs, but because they are really NOT half price as they are never ever sold at the full price IYSWI) and he says only few people notice this, and most people throw things into the trolley when they see the words: "Half Price". It is a successful marketing trick.

I think we can vote with our feet, and thats what Ill do.

MmeLindt · 30/09/2010 13:30

The Loch Muir thing. I agree that it is misleading, but does anyone believe the marketing inventions.

In Germany Tiktaks are made from "Campangola Mint", Ferrero Rocher are made with "Byzantiner King Nuts" and Mon Cheri use "Piemont Cherries" for their products. None of these things exist, they are a marketing invention because it sounds better than, "mint flavouring" "hazelnuts" and "cherries from Israel".

I am sure that there is plenty of UK examples of the same thing.

BornToFolk · 30/09/2010 13:34

I saw that programme last night, and honestly I was flabbergasted that people actually think that all Cornish Pasties come from Cornwall or that Heinz "Farmers Market" soup has ever been anywhere near a farmers' market.

I agree that supermarkets are being cheeky with their Oakham chicken etc but I can't believe that most consumers are as stupid as that Food programme makes out. A couple of weeks ago, they did a thing about fruit juice being high in sugar - who doesn't know that juice is loaded with sugar?! FFS.

MaMoTTaT · 30/09/2010 13:35

just a word of warning about your "local" butcher - my "local" butcher sells 3 chickens for £10, and Danish bacon.........

EdgarAllInPink · 30/09/2010 14:09

indeed, markets often stock rejected produce from the same suppiers - so you get better stuff from supermarkets. they have more leverage over suppliers (ie they fine them if the goods are substandard)

GetOrfMoiLand · 30/09/2010 14:14

"Why is this such a surprise to anyone? Do people really think 'Aunt Bessie' made the frozen Yorkshire Puddings? Do we think 'Mars Bars' are from outer space? Or that Mr Kipling's 'French Fancies' are from France?"

Lol at this.

Wrt the OP, I don't give a shit. If you are daft enough to be taken in by the Willow Farm (and actually think the eggs or whatever come from some kind of Enid Blyton esque farm) then you are beyond help.

coraltoes · 30/09/2010 14:32

MaMoTTat fortunately mine doesn't! I have a lovely butcher who only sells free range british reared and slaughtered meat.

I agree, it is up to the customer to try and make an informed a purchase as possible, but I do think not everyone is all that bright when it comes to food shopping, and may well fall for the tricks. I disagree "more fool them"...we live in a country with high immigration and not always the best education when it comes to food. Clear labelling with less misleading images of rolling hills and pretty farms would help a large section of the community understand what is in their basket.

sugarlake · 30/09/2010 14:39

I also feel that there ought to be more transparency from the stores who do not object to human faeces being spread on certain crops.

EdgarAllInPink · 30/09/2010 14:42

'country of origin' labelling is rigourously enforced by supermarkets as they can be fined £5k per item if it is not right.

do you mean a law like that, perhaps?

ShirleyKnot · 30/09/2010 14:46

Why is human shit any worse than cow/horse/pig shit as a fertilizer?

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