A tartan labelling war has broken out between a political party and Asda.
The Scottish National Party has accused Asda of ditching its Scottish credentials in sourcing its premium beef products, a claim hotly denied by the Wal-Mart subsidiary.
The accusation emerged from a SNP survey of seven Asda stores located throughout the Scottish central belt which, the party claimed, demonstrated that the chain had ditched the Scottish Saltire label in favour of
other products from the United Kingdom.
This was immediately denied by Asda. A company spokesman said 99% of the beef sold in its 34 Scottish stores was locally sourced and there was no intention by the multiple of ditching the Saltire label.
“This would be totally counter to our overall plan of local sourcing and, in particular, to the Scottish element of that plan in which 25% of all the produce sold throughout our 265 stores nationwide is Scottish. We pay a premium price for our Scottish sourced beef and, as a result, have seen many of our customers moving upmarket for improved quality.
“So it makes no sense for us to fill up the shelves with produce from elsewhere.”
He added that the company’s traceability system made it possible to trace back cuts of meat. Only when Scottish supplies dipped would English or Irish beef be substituted, but this would still be less than 5%.
However Stewart Maxwell, the SNP’s Scottish MSP for the West of Scotland, said: “I have been bombarded with e-mails and telephone calls from people across the central belt of Scotland who have told me in their stores all the beef is labelled British, not Scottish.
“I have visited stores myself and have been unable to find any beef labelled as Scottish.”
Quality Meat Scotland said it would be astonishing if Asda was failing to deliver on its home sourcing agenda.
Vic Robertson
The Scottish National Party has accused Asda of ditching its Scottish credentials in sourcing its premium beef products, a claim hotly denied by the Wal-Mart subsidiary.
The accusation emerged from a SNP survey of seven Asda stores located throughout the Scottish central belt which, the party claimed, demonstrated that the chain had ditched the Scottish Saltire label in favour of
other products from the United Kingdom.
This was immediately denied by Asda. A company spokesman said 99% of the beef sold in its 34 Scottish stores was locally sourced and there was no intention by the multiple of ditching the Saltire label.
“This would be totally counter to our overall plan of local sourcing and, in particular, to the Scottish element of that plan in which 25% of all the produce sold throughout our 265 stores nationwide is Scottish. We pay a premium price for our Scottish sourced beef and, as a result, have seen many of our customers moving upmarket for improved quality.
“So it makes no sense for us to fill up the shelves with produce from elsewhere.”
He added that the company’s traceability system made it possible to trace back cuts of meat. Only when Scottish supplies dipped would English or Irish beef be substituted, but this would still be less than 5%.
However Stewart Maxwell, the SNP’s Scottish MSP for the West of Scotland, said: “I have been bombarded with e-mails and telephone calls from people across the central belt of Scotland who have told me in their stores all the beef is labelled British, not Scottish.
“I have visited stores myself and have been unable to find any beef labelled as Scottish.”
Quality Meat Scotland said it would be astonishing if Asda was failing to deliver on its home sourcing agenda.
Vic Robertson
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