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Support the WI in their campaign for clearer food labelling |
My mum has been involved with the WI for years, a number as local chair... I thought I’d go see what they were up to and how they are presenting themselves to the world.Obvious they are getting some professional help and they have gone some way to saying tune in via the social media platform that works for you but they should add the share buttons on the pages to make it easier for their members and other interested parties to spread the word... like what we have ;) Their COOL campaign shone out to me... we need to know where food is coming from and the current labelling can be very misleading... read on... WI COOL research into current labelling practicesThe UK Government has signalled its support for clearer country of origin labelling, but it believes supermarkets and manufacturers should improve labelling voluntarily. In January and February 2011, 87 WI’s visited 135 supermarkets across England and Wales to see if this is a credible approach to improving labelling practice. • Of the 135 supermarkets visited, 50 were found to have products with no country of origin labelling. • Products without country of origin labelling were found in most major supermarkets. • In general, value ranges of food were less likely to have country of origin labelling. ConclusionThe NFWI survey confirms that most shoppers find current regulations on COOL misleading and demonstrates that there is strong consumer support for COOL. This is backed up by other research including consumer research from Which? that found that 8 out of 10 people thought meat and poultry should carry country of origin labelling. The supermarket research conducted by WI members earlier this year highlights the substantial variation in labelling practice that continues in our supermarkets despite claims from the UK Government that a voluntary approach to COOL is sufficient. Even when supermarkets improve their own labelling practices, the majority of British supermarkets stock products from external food producers; of which they have no control over the labelling practices used. Our research also demonstrated the correlation between price and labelling practices; with value ranges giving less information to shoppers. The WI believes all shoppers have a right to clear information about the foods they buy, regardless of budget. So what are the key messages from our research?Consumers want to know where their food comes from – the vast majority of consumers want to know where their food comes from, for a variety of different reasons. Voluntary approaches to COOL do not go far enough – labelling practices continue to be misleading, with shoppers on a tight budget worst affected. Find out more about the COOL WI campaign, download pdf’s and watch videos |
