NBA urges retailers to stick to supply chain promises

Retailers are being pressured to stick to the supply chain promises that were recently outlined to avoid a repeat of mis-selling meat products. The National Beef Association (NBA) has called on major supermarkets and other retailers to pay their supplier the proper price for high provenance, UK-only beef products. A move of this ilk would help them to avoid the temptation of substituting the provision with horsemeat and also rule out another a national scandal. In Scotland, companies have been challenged to make long-term commitments to domestically based food producers which will help to improve transparency within the supply chain jobs of these organisations. Horsemeat has been the talk of the industry in the past few months after a series of 'beef' products were found to contain trace of equine DNA. The likes of Tesco, Ikea and Findus were all caught up in the scandal with the latter being discovered to have a lasagne product which was "100 per cent horsemeat". The NBA has now called on retailers to end the "food fraud" which it claims has been allowed to fool shoppers and consumers across the UK by sticking to their pledges and source their products more locally. Chris Mallon, NBA national director, said: "Our very clear view is that unless Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morissons raise all their retail beef prices in line with the improving value of UK cattle it is inevitable that suppliers will make losses on their order "It is important to consumers that everyone involved in the supply of their UK beef is able to maintain their business without cutting unnecessary costs and are therefore able to continue to deliver the consumer’s first choice product in future." The initiative in Scotland has been spearheaded by Richard Lochhead, rural affairs secretary, who wants retailers to secure lengthy deals which ensure that producers will be given a fair price meaning that everyone within the food industry reaps the rewards following the hard work that has gone from getting meat from field to plate.