UK NEWS: WAITROSE SAYS “WE’RE BACKING BRITISH” AND IS SET TO SELL ONLY LAMB FROM THE UK

“We are proud of our British suppliers and forge strong relationships with them founded on trust, fairness and a passion for good food. With a reputation built on the quality and freshness of our food, we are committed to letting people know about the wealth of high quality food available.” – Waitrose

As stated on their official website, Waitrose believes retailers play a vital role in safeguarding the future of the British countryside and the farmers who create it, and are taking their responsibilities as an influential retailer seriously.

As Euro Weekly News has discovered, most of the supermarket’s meat and dairy offering is already home-grown; all of the own-brand fresh chicken, pork, beef, eggs and liquid milk is already sourced exclusively from the UK.

The company has said it now wishes to further “invest in the future British agriculture” and is aiming to do more work supporting local producers. This includes their project to sell only UK lamb.

The retailer currently supplements its lamb range with New Zealand products in the winter months, but in it’s campaign to only invest in British agriculture, it’s phasing out the meat from New Zealand and aims to have 100% British lamb in all their stores by 2021, stressing the importance in investing in ‘British agriculture’

This move has been welcomed by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) who say it “will provide a welcome boost for the UK sheep sector at a time when our future trading relationship is uncertain.”

Waitrose has previously been a strong supporter of the British livestock industry and this commitment, which will see additional British lamb producers join its supply chain, will help to ensure the sector has a sustainable and ambitious future.