Lidl next to vac pack mince despite Sainsbury's 'mush' complaints

[dutchman]

Lidl's new mince vac packs will be in stores from early next year



Lidl is the latest supermarket to announce it will start vac-packing mince to use less plastic and double its shelf life.

Sainsbury's hit the headlines when it made the same switch, and some shoppers complained it turned the meat to mush.

An anti-plastic group criticised the move from hard plastic trays to soft film, saying this would not go in most household recycling collections.

Lidl said its new vac packs could be taken to recycling collection points.

It said the packaging would use 63% less plastic and extend the mince's shelf life from eight to 16 days. The "easy peel film" also meant customers "don't have to touch the raw meat", it said.

In February, Sainsbury's announced it was the first UK retailer to vacuum pack all beef mince saving 450 tonnes of plastic each year".

But when the packs appeared in the supermarket's fridges some shoppers expressed their distaste on social media.

One said the meat now resembled "a rectangle of mushed off cuts" and another described it as looking like "someone's kidney".

Others complained that sucking the air out of the mince packaging squashed it together and made it difficult to cook with.

Sainsbury's head of fresh food, Richard Crampton, told the BBC in April: "It's exactly the same mince...but more compressed...so we do need customers to cook it slightly differently."

He said vacuum packed meat was common in the EU and US as well as recipe boxes in the UK, and he would not be surprised if other supermarkets followed suit.

Sian Sutherland, co-founder of campaign group A Plastic Planet, said meat-soiled soft plastics were "never going to be recycled into anything useful." She said she thought most people would put them into general waste rather than taking them to recycling points.

Ms Sutherland added: "When so many other natural materials exist, it is inexcusable to keep pushing plastic and retailers need to seriously consider the reputational risks."

[dutchman]

Aldi and Morrisons have now also followed suit and it tastes absolutely disgusting!

[dutchman]

Why price of beef mince has suddenly exploded as Brits ask ‘why no one is talking about it’



There's always something which is used as a marker for comparing to the good old days and it seems as if Brits are now questioning why the price of beef mince has seemingly exploded in recent years.

Although some of us may never move on from the huge surge in Freddo prices, which the creator's daughter said would have him turning in his grave, others are now complaining about the rising costs of beef mince.

Jamie Oliver has long petitioned to keep kids on healthy food and you'd probably put grass-fed beef mince towards the top of the list of good old-fashioned grub, but it may soon be out of some families price ranges, as the cost of living continues to affect a huge number of people living in the UK.

After a viral post on X, which questioned why things are getting so expensive, it was revealed that there's even a group of people who keep a close eye on the price of mince.

Those in MinceWatchUK post regularly about the various prices and fat percentages they see in supermarkets, and many are now moving towards higher fat percentages as they struggle to afford the leaner options.

Some are even pushing towards £10, which definitely seems ridiculous, especially when you consider what people were paying for a full shop back in 2001.

According to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, latest period data shows a 26.3% increase in average price per volume, with a corresponding -6.5% decline in volume. Truly shocking.

Back in May, when inflation prices reached an annual high, farming industry experts said beef prices were rising due to high demand and low supply.
Jilly Greed, a fourth generation farmer and suckler beef producer in Devon, told the BBC: "It is entirely the maths - it's about supply and demand.

"There's a 5 per cent shortfall in cattle on the land, and a 1 per cent increase in consumer demand, and the combination of those factors have really brought price increases."

Cattle prices are reaching unprecedented levels and soaring above the average when compared with other food, which explains why it's coming out of our bank account when we head to the supermarkets.

Basic economics suggests that what goes up must eventually come down, but there isn't likely to be a quick fix in this case.

Farmers have also blamed Brexit for the lack of support they are now receiving when it comes to feeding the country its meat, and unless we see a dramatically increased supply of cows, it's not easy to see the price of beef decreasing any time soon.

We may only know for sure in the next couple of years, as calves take nearly that long to gestate and then reach maturity.

So, if you've been following one of those silly carnivore diets from the internet, then hopefully you've got the money to keep paying for the beef mince.

https://www.ladbible.com/news/uk-news/beef-mince-brits-inflation-brexit-money-price-019832-20251023