There is a thin line between telling the public what it wants to hear or what you want it to hear, and telling it the truth.

While the Sainsbury’s spokesperson who dismissed vegetable supply problems as “a storm in a vegetable basket” may well have had the chain’s best interests at heart, it is hard to disagree with Tim Mudge’s assessment on behalf of the UK’s veg producers (p1).

There is too often an element of the ‘what they don’t know can’t hurt them’ approach of the larger retailers to the consumer. They use it to rid themselves of the need to comment accurately on pesticides, supplier relationships and much more.

However, this route is fraught with danger in an age when consumers are more inquisitive than ever and have an inexhaustible range of communication tools, should they discover that their trusted “supplier” is covering something up.

It is also less than helpful to the retail supplier base. It is facing a particularly difficult period, and now hears the clear message from some major customers that it remains business as usual. In retailer parlance, of course, that translates as the price they will pay remains the same or lower, whether the on-shelf ticket rises to reflect the shortage or otherwise.

Most consumers understand that hot weather is not ideal for growing vegetables, so why go to lengths to convince them the hottest July for 92 years will have minimal impact on availability?