Investigation finds ‘misleading’ origin labelling in supermarkets such as Asda, Aldi and Sainsbury's

An investigation has found misleading and meaningless supermarket country-of-origin labels could be leaving shoppers struggling to find out where their food comes. The research found loose cauliflowers, red cabbage, courgettes and onions at Sainsbury’s, peppers, melons and mangoes at Asda and spring onions at Aldi had no visible origin labelling on the shelf or the products themselves, researchers for Which? Found.

Tomatoes from Morocco, parsley from Italy and sweet mini peppers from Spain sat on a shelf under a large banner decorated with a Union Jack and the words “Championing Great British Quality” at the Aldi store visited by Which?

The consumer choice company found cauliflowers that had a Union Jack on the shelf label, but were actually from Spain, in one Asda.

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Product labels had “fairly meaningless” information, including a pack of sausage rolls from Lidl which stated they were processed using “UK and non-UK pork”, and a pack of gammon joints at Iceland where the pork was labelled as “EU and non-EU origin”.

Aldi’s Crestwood bacon and cheese wraps had Union Jacks and “Made in Britain” on the front of the pack, even as the label on the back of the pack said they were made with pork from the EU. The same was found with an Aldi steak and gravy pie, PA reports.

A survey of more than 2,000 UK consumers for the study found that just 51% of people find current origin information presented on groceries helpful. Two thirds (64%) said they would be more likely to buy a product labelled “British” than one that was not.

Almost three quarters of consumers (72%) said it was important to know where fresh meat comes from, while 51% said they wanted to know