Beefed-up security (but only in certain areas...)
‘Sign of the times’ as SuperValu stores trial security tags on meats
‘People are struggling with the basics’
A SUPERMARKET chain has started attaching security tags to packs of beef in some stores to prevent desperate customers from stealing prime cuts of meat.
Supermarket giant SuperValu said it has been ‘trialling’ additional security measures as security tags were spotted on meat products in some of their stores.
However, the tags are apparently not being used in stores in wealthier areas. The tags were spotted on products such as striploin steak in its store in Kilmainham in Dublin but not in its Dún Laoghaire branch.
The Irish Daily Mail visited several SuperValu stores in the Dublin area to see which had security tags on their meat products.
In the SuperValu in Knocklyon, various cuts of steak were fitted with security tags. The SuperValu in Aylesbury Shopping Centre in Tallaght had security tags on steak – but also chicken, pork, burgers, and beef.
However, in the Firhouse store in south Dublin and in the Fortunestown store, no security tags were seen on meat products.
When asked whether the tagging was in specific stores where there had been a lot of shoplifting, SuperValu replied that the tags were only being used in a ‘limited number’ of its branches.
A spokesman said: ‘At SuperValu, we have been trialling some additional security labelling on select ranges in a limited number of stores.’
Similar moves have also been put in place in Britain with Tesco UK chairman John Allen recently coming out and saying shoplifting is a growing concern amid ‘desperate people taking desperate measures’.
Consumers’ Association of Ireland chief Dermott Jewell said he had not heard of these kinds of measures being taken by a supermarket before and it might ‘come as something of a shock’ for customers.
‘The reality of it being necessary is of great concern,’ he said.
‘Of course if it is an issue, then that has to be acknowledged. But it won’t sit well with a lot of people for a number of reasons. It reflects a lack of trust and particularly in terms of food,’ he said.
‘You can understand some areas where theft is an issue, I suppose very often we’re not inclined to think of food in that regard.
‘It also means you will have to go to a physical checkout to have the tag removed and a self-service checkout would not be sufficient.
‘The last question would be, do you really think it is absolutely necessary because if we are looking now at meat – is it going to be every product?’ he added.
Brid Smith, TD for Dublin South Central, whose constituency includes Kilmainham, said that it is a ‘sign of the times’ and if this is a new measure ‘I would take from it that people are struggling with the basics’.
‘Shopping centres are worried about it but it also indicates people are struggling,’ she said.
‘They wouldn’t normally be finding that a problem. If it is a new issue, I would take from it that people are struggling with the basics and the cost of meat has gone up.
‘It is one of the basics to feed your kids or to sustain yourself if you are not on an alternative diet. It is a sign of the times, definitely. From the shopkeepers’ point of view, alcohol and things like that are already secured but I suppose when you go down the food chain, meat is probably the next most expensive product.’
‘SuperValu is a busy shop and perhaps they are experiencing theft but if they are, it is because other people are experiencing hardship in huge measures.’
Ms Smith said that it is possible that the SuperValu in Kilmainham is experiencing more theft of meat than would be seen in other parts of the country. ‘It would tally that there would be more acute levels of poverty in somewhere like Dublin 8 rather than Dún Laoghaire.
‘It is possible that they are experiencing more theft of meat in somewhere like Kilmainham because in the heart of Dublin 8 there is an awful lot of poverty. There are a lot of people living in terrible conditions.
‘Dublin 8 is a great place to live, you can buy an old cottage in the Liberties or something, but there is a very hidden level of poverty within all that and it is mostly to do with bad accommodation, a lot of hubs and homeless accommodation as well.’
‘There is an awful lot of poverty’