The Best of
The huge signs that adorn the displays of fruit and veg in our supermarkets might tempt you to think you are enjoying all the flavour of rural Britain.
But shoppers expecting local produce below them should take a careful look at where the goods actually come from.
A Sunday Mirror probe has found seven of our top chains selling imported fruit and veg below banners plugging UK farms.
At M& S, a display carried a reassuring “Best of British” Union Jack logo, alongside a mouthwatering photograph of raspberries, and promised: “Best of the season.”
Yet the raspberries on the shelf actually gave their “country of origin” as Portugal. And alongside were cherries from 7,000 miles away in Chile, and strawberries that had come 2,300 miles from Egypt.
In fact, not a single berry on the display, at M&S in Canary Wharf, East London, came from the UK.
We found similar examples at branches of Tesco, Waitrose, Lidl, Asda, Morrisons and Aldi after our secret shoppers combed the aisles in London, the Midlands and the North West this week. In most cases, homegrown offerings were Signs at Morrisons in Bromsgrove, Worcs, promise: “We work directly with trusted British growers.”
On sale: Lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower from Spain, runner beans from Kenya, pears from Belgium, root veg from UK. Asda in Broadheath, Altrincham, trumpets: “Lots of our succulent strawberries are grown by Elaine”, while Joe is “one of our trusted growers of green beans”.
Strawberries from Morocco and Egypt, green beans from Kenya. At Lidl in Wimbledon, South London, a sign carrying a UK flag gushes: “Kind to our farmers. (As well as your wallet)”.
On sale below are avocados from Chile and tomatoes from Spain – along with UK mushrooms. Aldi in Tooting, South London, vows in its banner: “Championing Great British quality”.
On sale alongside are tomatoes, courgettes and lettuce from Spain, Moroccan green beans, radishes from Senegal and Italian rocket. At Waitrose in Bromsgrove, Worcs, shoppers are told: “We have our own farm, The Leckford Estate in Hampshire, which supplies milk, apples and mushrooms.”
On sale below are apples from the UK… and Italy. there too – surrounded by foreign produce. Jack Ward, head of the British Growers Association, said suppliers do buy from the UK, but claimed: “You can’t say this is anything other than misleading.”
Given the choice, a 2018 survey by Young’s Seafood found 70 per