"UK supermarkets accused of ‘bombarding’ shoppers with cheap meat"

[dutchman]

Charity says big four chains offer scores of deals every week, despite pledging to promote meat-free eating



Britain’s biggest supermarkets stand accused of “bombarding” shoppers with offers of cheap meat, despite pledging to promote more meat-free diets to improve health and tackle global heating.

They are using money-saving promotions, such as two for the price of one, as a way of “pushing” meat, at odds with moves in the UK and globally for consumers to eat less of it, research found.

Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons are each offering scores of deals every week on meat products such as burgers and sausages to drive sales and boost their profits, according to a report from the charity Eating Better. It is an umbrella group representing more than 60 organisations including WWF UK, Greenpeace, public health bodies, dietitians, the RSPCA and food charities.

The report also discloses that only 1% of the many hundreds of multi-buy offers for meat products examined by researchers will be banned when the government’s crackdown on the promotion of foodstuffs that are high in fat, salt or sugar – to tackle childhood obesity – begins in October. Marketing of such foods will be outlawed on TV before the 9pm “watershed” and also online, though the food industry is trying to persuade ministers to delay or water down both plans.

“Supermarkets are bombarding us with Bogof [buy one, get one free] burgers, sausages and cheap chicken of unknown origin, putting profit before population health and that of the planet,” said Simon Billing, Eating Better’s executive director.

“The Big Four are contradicting their own commitments by encouraging customers to buy more meat than they would have if it hadn’t been on promotion.

“The impact of this is that we’re eating more meat than we need, or is good for us. Pushing cheap meat into our baskets also supports intensive animal farming, which is wrecking the planet, emitting a huge amount of greenhouse gas and requiring massive amounts of our precious resources, such as land and water.”

An Asda spokesperson said: “We recognise the need to provide customers with meat-free alternatives and have expanded our plant-based range by 50% in the past year and committed to doubling sales from plant-based products by 2023.” It ran fewer meat promotions after the study period ended in September because barbecues and outdoor eating declined, they added.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “This report is not an accurate reflection of our commitment to ‘help everyone eat better’. We aim to make a healthy and varied diet accessible to everyone [and are] investing significantly in keeping prices low on products such as fruit, veg, grains, meat and fish.”

Tesco did not respond directly. But it highlighted the emphasis it had put on meat-free dishes in recent years, in line with changing tastes, including launching its own-brand Wicked Kitchen array of vegan foods and Plant Chef vegetarian range.

Morrisons did not respond to a request for comment.

[dutchman]

Can't say I've noticed myself?

Nor would it bother me if I had.

[rebbonk]

Can't say I've noticed myself?

That makes 2 of us, Dutchman. I certainly haven't seen it.

[lostinwonder]

I don't buy meat from supermarkets.

[dutchman]

I don't blame you!

I don't know about other supermarkets but Morrisons slice their meat far too thick. This not only makes it too expensive but it takes forever to cook.

Also they cut all the fat off where most of the flavour is contained.

We're still paying for the fat whether they cut it off or not and if I didn't like fat I could easily cut it off myself.

[dutchman]

I'm not claiming this is representative or anything but at Morrisons this evening the cheapest steaks (not all that big) were over five pounds each and the cheapest cut of braising beef (far too big for one person to eat) was over seven pounds!

Braising beef is supposed to be cheap because it consists of muscle tissue and takes far longer to cook.