Fascinating times for food as Hugh challenges Tesco
As Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall takes on Tesco, will power, marketing and price beat taste and quality?
This morning I listened to 3 news updates on radio 4 about Hugh's fight with Tesco. Each update gave 3 slightly different sides to the story and I wondered whether each sides PR company was frantically 'correcting' the news readers statement. The first treated Hugh as a crazy chef seeking fame, the second, Tesco ignoring consumer's wishes and the third, that we would have to pay another £1 for a chicken at Tesco if Hugh had his way. Who will win this fight? And why has it come to this?
The balance between food price and quality has traditionally been set by government with 'Food standards', and consumers with free choice. As supermarkets have grown more powerful and separated consumer from producer the consumer's don't have enough information to make the right choice. As the media reports these hidden facts consumers realise they may be making the wrong choice and are confused. So far this has not bothered supermarkets as a confused customer may be seen as a marketing opportunity to improve shareholder return and customer goodwill.
Hugh and the media have messed up this marketing campaign. I hope.
I will be following this story closely as this is exactly why I set up BigBarn. Hugh and the media may raise awareness to the failings of the UK food industry but to fight the power we must offer consumers an alternative to the supermarket. The alternative to buy chickens direct from a local producer and personally check welfare standards.
As you have registered with BigBarn I know I am preaching to the converted to help the fight please get your friends to register here.
View the entire BigBarn Blog Archive here.
Register for the BigBarn Newsletter
Do you love food? If you do, register now, FREE, for the BigBarn newsletter and be entered into our monthly prize draw
This project is supported under the England Rural Development Programme by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund
Comments for Fascinating times for food as Hugh challenges Tesco
Left by Sheila M Whitehead on 27 Jun 2008.
I totally agree with Hugh-buying"happy"pigs,chickens, eggs etc.tastes so much nicer,and it really does! If you plan your meals,you can save money,by having good meat one day;pasta and tinned tuna another,and so on...
Left by Jess on 27 Jun 2008.
Thanks for following this important issue and sharing your views. It's about time that we all play a bigger part in the environment - including ethically sourcing food - and I hope Hugh makes a difference. If chicken goes up only 1 pound that's an amazing saving of livelihood nevermind getting better quality of meat. Sheila above also makes a good point - we can all fit in a bit of planning.
Left by Nick on 27 Jun 2008.
There was a report on the radio this week also about how eating these battery reared chickens are a major contributor to making our kids obese (did anyone else hear this, where was it?) - a quid more for a chicken (something I heard Hugh refuting by the way)seems a small price to pay. What would we rather our kids have, the latest Wii bought with savings made in the food budget or their health? No brianer surely.
Left by Nick on 27 Jun 2008.
Sorry about all the typos there - this whole issue about priorities makes me mad!
Left by Dave on 28 Jun 2008.
Understanding how our food is produced and where it comes from is no joke. The more we understand the more informed choices we can make. I can only applaud Hugh for being willing to stand up for these principles and showing the large supermarkets that they have some level of duty to work with the customers needs rather than purely operating to maximize profit without a level of care as set out by the five freedoms
Left by Margaret Stoll on 28 Jun 2008.
In response to Nick above: on the final programme in Hugh F-W's latest TV series 'Spring at River Cottage' this point was discussed. Hugh had asked a professor of nutrition to analyse three chickens and compare fatty tissue and omega-3 levels. No prizes for guessing the results! It appears that since the 1970s the way chickens are farmed industrially has altered their body composition. So, while people are deluded into thinking that eating chicken is providing them with cheap meat i.e. a protein food, in fact they're eating almost all fat and little protein, and little or no omega-3, an essential nutrient. Therefore, Tesco's defence, shedding crocodile tears about their customers with tight budgets, is rubbish, because all they are doing is encouraging the eating of rubbish meat which can and will result in obese, malnourished people.
Left by Nick on 28 Jun 2008.
Thanks Margaret, that was where I saw it.
Left by Susan Wakefield on 28 Jun 2008.
What no-one has mentioned is that Tesco insisted Hugh (a bone-fide shareholder) paid for the relevant questions/resolution to be passed to the sharehlders at a cost to himself of over £86k with only two days to raise the cash (I don't think they thought he'd do it). He made the deadline by public subscriptions made via Welfare in World Farming. Surely a sign of the consumers' concerns. TESCO TAKE NOTE. We will have to, if necessary, go back to the days when we only had chicken for special occasions.
Left by Beth on 28 Jun 2008.
It seems that these big supermarkets think that its only celebrity chefs that have chickens welfare in mind to boost their popularity but this is not the case, thousands of the general public agree with them, so why dont they listen to what we the public want ??
Left by tracey on 28 Jun 2008.
I agree with Susan, very little has been mentioned in media about the £86k hugh raised in 2 days! Tesco make ridiculous profits that they are always happy to tell us about, can see why if they subject all their shareholders to that! I refuse to shop there out of principle & have returned my clubcard etc to them advising why i will never use them again. Received the standard blurb back from them, again bleating on about how poor their customers are & how they wouldnt be able to afford their prices if they only used free range products, if you cant afford something, then you dont buy it!? Not sure quite what point i am trying to make...whole situ makes me cross...boycott tesco i say!
Left by angela price on 28 Jun 2008.
Hi Everyone... as small farmers in Oxfordshire we are so pleased to see people standing up to the like of TESCO at last. They have been allowed the whip hand for to long, when they have a special offer or BOGOF they don't stand the loss it's the farmer that gets squeezed again. I think it's a disgrace that Hugh had to raise 86k when TESCO made 2 BIllION profit...We have got together with a couple of local farmers and are launching a MEAT BOX DELIVERY SCHEME in our area soon, so people can have the best free range meat / poultry delivered direct to their door...
Left by Keith on 29 Jun 2008.
We have not bought chicken from Tescos for some time as we are lucky to have two local butchers still thriving in our town despite the onslaught of a local Tescos. In fact customers regularly have to stand outside the shop waiting to get in on a Saturday morning. Even at the local butchers however there is still a choice of regular fast reared chicken, another that is euphemistically called "Deep Litter" which means they are supposed to have more room and something better to walk on, lastly free range. When you cook the free range chicken it is very obvious that the amount of 'fat' in the bottom of the tray when cooked is only about 10% of that which comes out of the other chickens. The problem is that many people think that this is normal and accept it believing that cheap and quantity beats more expensive and quality.Like the facts that were brought to light in the last very informative HFW program, this is what should be taught in schools, instead of the other government driven curriculum, much of which does little to prepare kids for the real world either health or food wise.
Left by Shirley Smith on 29 Jun 2008.
Thanks for doing an article on this. I buy free range or organic because of animal standards, taste and nutritional value. I, too have boycotted Tesco and sent their clubcard back - I couldn't have been more happier than when Hugh raised the cash needed. Tesco have acted appallingly and I will never use them again.
Left by Ann on 30 Jun 2008.
Yes I boycott Tesco too but we are in a minority. Many shoppers say they want ethically produced food but when it comes to paying they ignore all that and buy the cheapest. Bring back "Domestic Science" with properly trained and educated teachers for the next generation.
Left by Catriona on 01 Jul 2008.
You'd think that if a number of customers had stopped buying meat form them entirely (as I did years ago) they might get the message, but I guess individual stances mean little to them. The only meat I have bought from them recently was one organic free-range chicken during Hugh's TV campaign and it cost a fortune - a deliberate attempt, I would think, to get people back to buying cheap and nasty. More power to Hugh and Jamie and all like them! And down with greedy unpleasnat, self-seeking, corporate megalomaniacs
Add your own comment: