Retail giant Tesco is facing legal threats for using the name of a genuine farm to use on the packaging of its 'fake farm brands'.
The Feedback charity, an organisation that campaigns to end food waste, is backing the owner of a genuine farm called Woodside Farm, a free-range pig farm in Nottinghamshire.
The owner of Woodside Farm claims to sell better quality produce than the supermarket giant, which has used the same name since 2016.
The backing stems from the charity's new campaign, "Total Bull", which calls out the "biggest bull" on supermarket shelves. Feedback said it is awarding the first "Total Bull award" to Tesco for their "unflinching commitment" to fake farm branding.
Supermarkets have been selling meat under fake farm names, which farmers have criticised for deliberately encouraging consumers to believe that the meat is sourced from small-scale producers.
The industry has frequently reacted angrily to fake branding, accusing retailers of misleading consumers and riding on the coattails of the trust UK farmers have built.
'Bucolic image'
Tesco are not the only supermarkets to use made up farm names in their branding.
Other fake farm ranges include Asda’s ‘Farm Stores’, which features an old-fashioned barn and tractor on the label, Lidl’s ‘Birchwood Farm’ meat range (which is marketed as ‘Strathvale Farm’ in Scotland), Aldi’s ‘Ashfield Farm’ and Marks and Spencer’s ‘Oakham’ chicken.
The charity states: "For all shoppers know, behind the bucolic mirage could lie a high-intensity, unsustainable mega farm."
Despite Tesco’s choice of very British-sounding names, the company’s website acknowledges that not all of the meat sold in their Woodside Farms pork range will have come from UK farms.
Feedback added: "Even for meats which are sourced from UK farms, such as ‘Willow Farms’ chicken, some meat may have been produced under conditions very far from those implied by their labels."
Last year, the National Farmers' Union (NFU) wrote to formally complaint to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute over the use of ‘fake’ farm branding by retailers on some food products.
