AS The National’s Save Our Scotland Brand campaign continues to make an impact on retailers who do not identify goods as Scottish, more evidence has been found that some supermarkets are getting round the problem by not stocking Scottish items at all.
The campaign has already highlighted problems at Marks & Spencer — they labelled Scotch under “Great Britain” — and Morrisons who had raspberries marked with a Union flag even though the producer is from Angus.
Yesterday leading farmer Daye Tucker told The National of the importance of having Scottish food and drink supplied by Scottish farmers identified as coming from Scotland, but how do you brand something as Scottish if it isn’t stocked at all?
READ MORE: Save Our Scotland Brand: A passport to knowing where our beef’s from
Waitrose — usually a strong supporter of Scottish-produced food and drink — has come under fire because one branch simply stopped stocking Scottish cheese.
National reader Linda Britton is a regular consumer of cheese made in Scotland but some weeks ago, she noticed that the deli counter in Waitrose’s store in Byres Road in Glasgow no longer had any Scottish cheese.
She tried to find out what happened and when her favourite Scottish cheeses would be back, but got the brush-off from Waitrose.
Britton then contacted The National: “Twice I’ve emailed Waitrose head office to ask why they have removed Scottish cheese from the deli counter, and I’ve also phoned once.
“The reply I got from a spokesperson was that it would go back on sale in November. I was in my local branch and asked once again if there was any Scottish cheese to be told no, and there was no sign of it coming back in.
“The assistant I spoke to told me there have been a number of complaints to management from customers and staff, only to be told this branch would not be stocking Scottish cheese. They do stock Welsh cheese, Cornish cheese, English cheese so I’m not sure why in a Scottish branch there is no Scottish cheese.
“I can’t get an answer from them. Maybe you can then I can decide whether I will continue to shop at Waitrose.”
The National carried out its own investigation — one of us popped into the store — and found that Linda Britton’s claim was correct as there was no cheese identified as Scottish on the counter.
One brief email to Waitrose’s head office produced yet another result for The National’s campaign.
A spokesperson said: “All Scottish counter produce — made with Scottish ingredients and produced in Scotland — is clearly identified with the Saltire on the ticketing.
“We would like to apologise to Britton that her Scottish cheese is currently not available in her branch but reassure her that it will be back in stock before the end of the month.”
We have also had an important message for our campaign from reader Colin Dawson, who said: “Holyrood banned GM crops. Westminster did not. A Saltire doesn’t just identify farm produce as Scottish. It identifies it as GM-free.
“That is an important consideration for many people.”
Indeed it is, and that’s one reason why our campaign will continue.
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