Plaid Cymru’s Elin Jones AM and Penri James have called on Ceredigion’s supermarkets to improve the availability of Welsh milk on their shelves.
Over the past fortnight, Plaid Cymru has been surveying the advertised origin of both organic and non-organic milk on sale at supermarkets and large convenience stores throughout Ceredigion.
Of the 16 locations visited, six stores (37 per cent) did not sell any Welsh milk. These included discount supermarkets Lidl and Aldi, and the Iceland chain.
Only three supermarkets – Tesco in Cardigan, Sainsbury’s in Lampeter and CK’s in Aberystwyth – came out top and offered shoppers the opportunity to purchase both organic and non-organic milk from Welsh farms.
Organic milk from Wales was available at 50 per cent of the stores visited while non-organic Welsh milk was available at only 31 per cent of the shops.
The Co-operative – which has stores in Aberystwyth and Lampeter as well as owning the Somerfield supermarket in Cardigan – only stocked Welsh milk in its Lampeter store.
Commenting on these findings, Plaid Cymru’s Penri James said:
“I’m extremely disappointed that such a large proportion of Ceredigion’s supermarkets and convenience stores don’t offer Welsh milk to customers. It’s essential that we support our local agriculture industry as much as possible and I believe that supermarkets have a role to play to help consumers proactively purchase Welsh milk.
“Over recent years, supermarkets have been supportive in the campaign to provide beef and lamb originating from Wales on their shelves. I believe that it’s about time that they make more of an effort to do the same for Welsh milk”.
Penri James and Ceredigion AM Elin Jones have now written to the Chief Executives of the supermarkets and convenience store chains to highlight the need to stock Welsh milk. Letters have also been sent in instances where stores only sold Welsh organic milk.
Plaid Cymru’s AM for Ceredigion, Elin Jones, added:
“Penri and I have now written to each retailer highlighted in our survey, congratulating those who are already stocking Welsh milk while urging the others to do the same. We were particularly concerned that the Co-operative is only stocking Welsh milk at its Lampeter store, and have asked the chain’s Chief Executive why the same cannot be done at its Aberystwyth and Cardigan stores.
“There is clearly a demand for Welsh milk among consumers and, at present, this demand isn’t being met in all instances. I’d therefore urge Ceredigion residents to ask their local supermarket to start supplying Welsh milk if they don’t already do so. Consumer power is hugely influential on the activities of supermarkets”.
Over the past fortnight, Plaid Cymru has been surveying the advertised origin of both organic and non-organic milk on sale at supermarkets and large convenience stores throughout Ceredigion.
Of the 16 locations visited, six stores (37 per cent) did not sell any Welsh milk. These included discount supermarkets Lidl and Aldi, and the Iceland chain.
Only three supermarkets – Tesco in Cardigan, Sainsbury’s in Lampeter and CK’s in Aberystwyth – came out top and offered shoppers the opportunity to purchase both organic and non-organic milk from Welsh farms.
Organic milk from Wales was available at 50 per cent of the stores visited while non-organic Welsh milk was available at only 31 per cent of the shops.
The Co-operative – which has stores in Aberystwyth and Lampeter as well as owning the Somerfield supermarket in Cardigan – only stocked Welsh milk in its Lampeter store.
Commenting on these findings, Plaid Cymru’s Penri James said:
“I’m extremely disappointed that such a large proportion of Ceredigion’s supermarkets and convenience stores don’t offer Welsh milk to customers. It’s essential that we support our local agriculture industry as much as possible and I believe that supermarkets have a role to play to help consumers proactively purchase Welsh milk.
“Over recent years, supermarkets have been supportive in the campaign to provide beef and lamb originating from Wales on their shelves. I believe that it’s about time that they make more of an effort to do the same for Welsh milk”.
Penri James and Ceredigion AM Elin Jones have now written to the Chief Executives of the supermarkets and convenience store chains to highlight the need to stock Welsh milk. Letters have also been sent in instances where stores only sold Welsh organic milk.
Plaid Cymru’s AM for Ceredigion, Elin Jones, added:
“Penri and I have now written to each retailer highlighted in our survey, congratulating those who are already stocking Welsh milk while urging the others to do the same. We were particularly concerned that the Co-operative is only stocking Welsh milk at its Lampeter store, and have asked the chain’s Chief Executive why the same cannot be done at its Aberystwyth and Cardigan stores.
“There is clearly a demand for Welsh milk among consumers and, at present, this demand isn’t being met in all instances. I’d therefore urge Ceredigion residents to ask their local supermarket to start supplying Welsh milk if they don’t already do so. Consumer power is hugely influential on the activities of supermarkets”.
1 comment:
Don't drink milk, but it's sad that the only siop that sells the sort of stuff that I'd buy is the Treehouse, I find it very odd that it's nigh impossible to buy locally caught fish in a town with a harbour. There should be a real political push in Ceredigion for our local siops to sell local produce (not just lamb/cider/welsh cakes and waffles). At one point it was ridiculous that I was unable to buy Rachels yogurt in the 3 co-ops that were in the area.
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