Buying British

I once saw Chinese garlic here ( very cheap but very tasteless)

Yes, I see Chinese garlic in our supermarkets.
Mostly it seems to come from Spain.

Where do you get fruit and veg from then if it isn’t local ?
Well, local is difficult all year round with the weather here in the UK but a lot is grown in UK.
Spain, Italy, some from Peru, Kenya, Mexico!

Australian avos are far superior, though.

Where do you get fruit and veg from then if it isn’t local ? Just wondering. Must cost a lot in shipping. I once saw Chinese garlic here ( very cheap but very tasteless) and sometimes oranges from California but that is the sum total. British fruit is gorgeous, much better than ours.

We try and go to our market.
Veg is from a market garden home grown.
Eggs are from a farm just outside of the town.

Morrisons guarantee that 100% of their fresh meat is British. They also sell a higher percentage of British fruit and vegetables. It’s not my favourite supermarket, although it’s my nearest, but I do get my meat there.

I was disappointed when I went to our local garden centre this weekend. They have a big butcher's shop there which used to sell Italian sausages. I always used to buy a pack to make risotto with. This time I couldn't find any and, when I asked, I was told it was a new company and they didn't do them. In fact when I looked around all their meat was very Btitish - no Indian or Chinese flavours either. But they had also removed the large cheese counter, which had always held a wonderful display of British cheeses

Aldi and Lidl both promote British food.

Oh. Is it going to actually explode?

Slightly off topic but this country is sitting on a ticking time bomb with illegal meat smuggled into the uk.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002qgmb

I always check the origin of meat, and will never buy any of non UK origin.
I do try to stick to UK veg but in winter it’s rather restrictive - just as well that we like cabbage and sprouts! I use quite a bit of celery so in winter that has to come from Spain.

I saw something recently suggesting that not all British eggs sold by Tesco are from British farms. Apparently some of the farms don't even exist. Which suggests that eggs are being imported from places like Poland where they have huge, huge chicken farms and boxed here and labelled with the names of (non existent) English farms. In the meantime British farms are being sold off.

I buy mainly Co-op eggs and did a quick check on the farm names on the egg boxes. At the very least those few farms have websites and addresses although that is not 100% proof they exist.

I did write to Sainsburys about the fact that not all the fruit and veg in their Buy British is actually from the UK and this is their reply:
"Dear Luckygirl3
Thank you for contacting us. I want to acknowledge the specific concern you raised regarding fruit listed under the British section of our site that is not sourced in the UK. I completely understand your frustration and the importance of clear and accurate product information, and I sincerely apologise for the confusion and inconvenience this has caused.

Please be assured that we take this matter seriously. Your feedback has been shared with our relevant team, who will review the product categorisation to ensure that items are correctly labelled and sourced information is transparent. Our goal is to provide you with accurate details so you can shop with confidence.

We truly appreciate you bringing this to our attention, and we are committed to making sure your future shopping experience is seamless and trustworthy.

Kind regards,"

We wait and see ...

If you are lucky enough to have one, buy from your local butcher.

Meanwhile I scour supermarkets for Italian tomatoes which taste so much better, especially in winter

The Red Tractor mark applies to fruit and vegetables, so is a quick way to confirm at a glance if they are produced here.
At the suggestion of another Gransnetter a while ago, I joined the Buy British Made Facebook page, which is great for helping you understand what the different descriptions mean. I also read the labels on my fruit and vegetables when I’m buying it, which does take longer, but it the only way if something isn’t clearly labelled. I keep a list on my phone for other things, so I know which British manufactured brands to buy.

I try to buy seasonal veg. that is grown here but with fruit I would be very limited in winter to just apples, so I relax my “buy British” rules.
Meat is the one item I don’t compromise on and check carefully that it is reared in the UK (also Ireland).

Be careful with Sainsbury’s. I was about to buy apples online in a Union Jack decorated bag. When I checked the country of origin, however, which you can do for most of their items, it listed 3 countries which the apples might come from. There was no means to indicate you only wanted British.

It makes sense to buy local, when you can.

Allira

Can we not trust the 🇬🇧 on packaging any more then?

No. It covers
- produced in Britain but occasionally sourced elsewhere,
or made up in Britain with resources from elsewhere,
made principally from British sourced items,
made by a British company but not always completely manufactured here and any other combination which they can come up with.
With the fruit, if you buy a mixed fruit item, you can almost guarantee that all parts will not be from Britain, even if it’s in the 🇬🇧 section.

Can we not trust the 🇬🇧 on packaging any more then?

Thanks for the links Graphite.

It's interesting. Looks as though in Sainsburys Buy British section the fish, meat and dairy are sourced in Britsin, but some of the fruit has wider sources, even though they are in this section. That is clearly unacceptable. I feel a letter coming on ...

Thankyou Graphite. I’m too gullible, I believe what I read …

It depends what you think of as British. Many people think Ford cars are British, but they stopped making cars over here 25 years ago, but a Toyota Corolla that many people think is Japanese is actually made in Derby.

Luckygirl, You might be interested in this:

www.farminguk.com/news/nearly-80-000-back-call-to-stop-misleading-british-food-labels_67895.html

Petition here:

you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/misleading-british-food-labels

Isn’t this similar to the Nestlé baby products, where some products are sourced in China, when you think it would be European. This product has caused two baby deaths in France and is now being recalled.
We are never told clearly on what is in a product nor where it is really from.