Soil Association backs NFU over ‘fake’ farm complaint

Jim Manson
1 Min Read

“The Soil Association says it “strongly supports” the National Farmers’ Union’s complaint to Trading Standards over ‘fake’ farm branding.

The NFU has written to formally complain to the National Trading Standards over the use of ‘fake’ farm branding by retailers on some food products.

This follows concerns expressed by NFU members that the use of ‘fake’ farm labels can be misleading for shoppers resulting in them being at risk of mistakenly buying a product that differs from the product they thought they were buying.

The most recent and high profile example is Tesco’s introduction of brand names such as ‘Woodside Farms’ and ‘Boswell Farms’.

Giving its support to the NFU complaint, the Soil Association said: “We agree that using fictional farm names to give shoppers a sense of provenance is deeply misleading. People increasingly want to know where our food comes from, and want honesty and authenticity, not deceptive veneers. Branding that uses fictitious farms threatens to undermine trust in sales from genuine British farms at a time of great uncertainty and vulnerability for all UK farmers.”

 

 

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Jim Manson is editor of Natural Newsdesk, former editor-in-chief of Natural Products Global (whose influence and audience grew steadily under his editorship) and former editor of Natural Products News, a position he held for 16 years. A regular speaker, presenter and awards host at conferences and trade shows in the UK and across Europe, he has also written for national newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, Financial Times, The Times and Time Out.
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