An end-of-2016 decline in the proportion of British pork products on UK supermarket shelves has been criticised by NPA, with Asda’s performance in particular being highlighted as being “dreadful”.
“As ever, we thank those retailers that continue to back British pork and will promote the fact they are doing so,” said NPA chief executive, Dr Zoe Davies, commenting on the latest AHDB Porkwatch survey which showed overall British facings for pork, bacon, ham and sausage fell by 3% to 5% between September and November last year and by 2% to 4% on a year-on-year basis.
“We are disappointed with the overall results showing that retailers sourced less British pigmeat across the categories.”
While adding that Tesco could certainly do better, she said the performance of Asda, which was already in a league of its own when it comes to turning its back on British pork, was dreadful.
“We will be taking it up with them (Asda) at the earliest opportunity,” said Dr Davies.
She did add, however, that there are still some areas of encouragement for British producers, especially the appearance of new pork product developments on the shelves of a number of retailers, including Waitrose and Aldi.
“That is certainly something we are looking forward to seeing much more of this year,” she said.
