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Chair of the Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) beef and lamb committee Sam Chesney has blasted UK supermarkets Asda and Sainsbury’s for selling Polish mince in their British stores.
“We have been totally let down in a time of crisis. We are told by Prime Minister Boris Johnson that we are all in this together, yet some factories and retailers are going to Poland to get beef. It is very, very disappointing,” Chesney told the Irish Farmers Journal.
He said that “farmers are knocking their pans out” to keep supermarkets supplied with beef, yet are being told by processors that they cannot sell various parts of the carcase, so the price must come back.
In NI this week, processors took 20p/kg off the quotes for prime cows and 2p/kg to 6p/kg off the quotes for prime cattle, and at the same time warned of further price reductions to come.
Totally wrong
“Our prices are down, yet disruption caused by this coronavirus crisis means that fertiliser is up £15/t and our feed is up £10 to £20/t.
"Our incomes are already on the floor. Farmers are going daft. This is all totally wrong,” said Chesney.
The main beef supplier to both Asda and Sainsbury’s is ABP Food Group, which owns three beef processing sites in Poland.
It is understood that Polish mince sold in UK retailers is brought to the UK for packing at a UK site, so consumers would need to read the labels carefully to know it is not of British origin.
Supermarkets' response
Responding on Twitter, NI corporate affairs manager Joe McDonald described the stocking of Polish beef as "a very short-term measure".
"We sourced Polish product as part of a range of one-off emergency solutions to get product on our shelves when we were being completely overwhelmed by panic buying," he said.
On enquiry, a Sainsbury's spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal that the supermarket chain was committed to sourcing British beef "as much as we possibly can".
"We have experienced exceptionally high demand for certain cuts of meat in the last few weeks, so we have temporarily introduced additional lines for our customers to choose from.
"We will go back to offering our usual range as soon as possible, while balancing our commitment to meeting demand and helping to feed the nation," the spokesperson said.
When approached for comment, a spokesperson for ABP confirmed that they had supplied Polish beef but this was a one off, short term measure because of the circumstances with empty shelves. It has now stopped and once Polish beef has worked its way through, they will be supplying British and Irish beef exclusively.
Trust eroded
In a statement, the UFU said any trust that farmers had in processors and retailers has been "seriously eroded".
"Processors have recently raised the price of mince from £3/kg to as high as £5/kg in some cases. We have been consistently told in the past by our processors that 60% of an animal goes into manufacturing/mince.
"In simple maths, that is quite a lot of money per animal. However, the processors' desire to pull down the price of beef to the producer whilst polish beef is being imported for supermarket shelves, we are left totally dismayed," the statement reads.
Additional reporting by Peter McCann
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