Four in five adultshave backed the NFU’s call to have the same country of origin labelling on products sold online as on those on supermarkets shelves.
A new YouGov survey commissioned by the NFU has revealed that 81 per cent of UK adults think online food retailers should provide the same amount of information about a product’s country of origin on the website as there is on the food packaging in store.
In addition, almost two-thirds of people surveyed (64 per cent) said they would find it helpful to have the option to use a filter to view only British produce when shopping online.
Some 24 per cent claimed to ‘always’ look out for British produce when shopping, while 40 per cent said they ‘occasionally’ do this.
“The NFU believes the same information that is available to shoppers in store should be available online,” said NFU president Meurig Raymond said. “That is why the NFU is calling for a clear and honest country of origin labelling system in its manifesto for the general election.”
One of the key issues, he thinks, is that “the country of origin of products sold online are often not clearly identified and pictures of products often have no origin label displayed.”
Raymond explained that he thought country of origin labelling was important because, according to surveys, there is strong demand for food produced in the UK.
And he stressed that the NFU was willing to work with people across the food supply chain to give customers “clear and unambiguous information about where their food comes from.” “Looking out for the Red Tractor logo is the easiest way to find food from British farms,” he said.
The NFU is also pushing for retailers selling online to identify British products on their listing page with a British flag to make them easily identifiable.
“A British ‘filter button’ would give online shoppers the ability to easily choose British products,” Raymond said.
The survey, conducted online, sampled 2,246 adults between 12-18 April 2017.The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults.
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