The UK’s supermarkets must be quaking in their £9.99 faux leather boots.

Two years of intense investigation awaits them, before the Competition Commission declares it has spent vast amounts of taxpayers cash and once more failed to reveal anything meaningful.

It is not that the supermarkets will not be compliant - they will. What has appeared to be lacking in previous investigations is a clear direction and genuine conviction.

The OFT’s Bob MacDowall told us at last year’s Re:fresh that it is the consumer that these inquiries are attempting to protect. But surely there is room to include the opposite end of the food chain in all of this. What harms the supply chain at any stage can only have a knock-on effect on every other link.

From our industry’s perspective, the only way that consumers are being affected by what some might term anti-competitive practices is through a fall in the quality of fresh produce on-shelf. Ever-decreasing prices ensure that lesser standard value lines will increase their share of every category in time. Suppliers that have invested huge amounts of money on behalf of their customers over the last decade did not do that to now be asked to reduce their specifications.

The land-bank problem could ultimately lead to a narrower band of choice for consumers. But what choice suppliers? It’s time for their issues to be recognised and addressed.

Tommy Leighton