AHDB’s latest Porkwatch figures showed distinctly mixed results in terms of how the 10 leading UK retailers were supporting British pork products.
The March survey showed a welcome increase in the proportion of British pork and ham on display, but significant drops in British bacon and sausage, which AHDB suggested could be a result of changes in labelling policy in some retailers.
Overall, across the 10 retailers surveyed, the proportion of British pork facings increased to 86% in March, from 84% in January and 81% a year ago.
Aldi, Co-op, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s all recorded 100% British with Waitrose on 97% and Asda and Tesco both upping their figures to 66% and 77% respectively. Iceland was on just 5%.
The overall proportion of British ham on display was up to 67% in March, from 64% in both January and March 2022. Asda, Lidl, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose all made improvements to 41%, 39%, 92% and 97% respectively, while the Co-op dropped from 100 to 96% and Morrisons, from 60% to 44%.
However, there was a big decline in bacon, down from 61% in January to 55% in March. M&S and Co-op both recorded 100%, with Waitrose down slightly to 93%. but a number of retailers showed big declines, including Aldi (from 66% in January to just 20%), Asda (38% to 25%), Lidl (43% to 15%) and Tesco (48% to 42%)
Overall, British sausage was down from 89% in January to 76% in the March survey. Only M&S recorded 100%, with Waitrose, Lidl and Aldi all above 90%. The Co-op dropped from 91% to 69%, with notable drops also at Asda (88% to 69%), Morrisons (82% to 77%) Sainsbury’s (90% to 72%) and Tesco (88% to 74%).
Labelling changes
AHDB said the changes may be attributable to shifts in labelling approach. “We have seen an increase in bacon and sausage products which are labelled as multiple or mixed origin. Products which could be from multiple countries (eg, sourced from the UK and EU) are not included in the British total as we cannot determine exact origin,” it said.
Despite tighter UK pig supplies, the survey’s suggestion of higher bacon and sausage imports doesn’t tally with the latest HMRC figures showing a notable drop in pork imports in January and February, or comment from the trade that EU supplies are equally short, if not shorter, and similarly priced to UK pork products.
NPA chief executive Lizzie Wilson welcomed the continued support by most retailers for British pork products and said it was unclear what lies behind the big drop offs in the British bacon and sausage figures.
“Our understanding, at the moment, is that tight supplies and high prices in Europe mean imports are not as attractive as they have been. We believe that, generally, our retailers are continuing to stock healthy volumes of British products, despite the lower availability of British pigs seen throughout this year,” she said.
“It might be, as AHDB suggests, that the changes are due to a shift in labelling policy in some retailers, to try to fulfil volumes by balancing supply . But that, in itself, is a concern as it is really important that country of origin is clearly demarked in our retailers in order to avoid confusion and to enable consumers to support our hard-working British pig producers.”