The major UK retailers are stocking a higher proportion of British bacon and ham than a year ago, although the percentage of fresh pork is down slightly.
The latest AHDB Porkwatch survey showed the big retailers sourced exactly 50% of their bacon from British farms in July 2018, compared with 48% a year ago. The proportion of British ham on retail shelves was up to 69% in July, compared with 63% a year ago.
But the percentage of British fresh pork fell from 79% to 77% over the period, while sausage was stable at around 85%.
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In terms of percentage of British, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer continue to lead the way, both sourcing 100% British apart a small proportion of ham. The Co-op is not far behind, with 100% British pork and bacon, 99% ham and 86% sausage.
Eight retailers continued to source 100% British fresh pork – Aldi, Budgens, Co-op, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Lidl, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
Overall, Asda and Tesco displayed the lowest proportion of British pork products on their shelves. However, Asda recorded a notable 70% year-on-year improvement in the percentage of British ham on its shelves (36%), while its percentage of British pork increased slightly on May to 37%, although bacon was down slightly to 30%.
Tesco recorded drops in British sourcing in all four categories, compared with May, although its proportion of British ham was well up on a year ago.
Aldi recorded notable year-on-year gains in bacon, ham and sausage, but Lidl went in the opposite direction, with a 19% drop in bacon on July 2017 to just 37%, while its British sausage facings down from 100% in May to 96%.
For the first time Iceland was included in the survey. It recorded just 17% in British bacon and 36% for ham.
NPA chief executive Zoe Davies welcomed the figures showing continued support for British pork by most retailers, particularly for fresh pork, and the improvements made in some categories by Aldi, Asda and others. There is always room for improvement for some however, she said.
