Sainsbury’s makes another big change to meat packaging despite customer outrage

SAINSBURY'S has made another change to its packaging for some of its meat products.

It comes hot on the heels of complaints by customers about its new mince packaged in vacuum-sealed plastic.

But Sainsbury's has announced another shakeup that's designed to help the environment.

This time the grocery giant has removed single-use plastic trays from its whole chicken range.

That means the birds will only be covered in recyclable film.

It affects all five products in the range, which includes Sainsbury’s British Fresh Whole chicken in extra small (0.9-1.35kg), medium (1.6kg), large (1.9kg) and extra large (2.1kg).

Prices range from £3.54 for the extra small chicken to £6 for extra large.

All 600 Sainsbury's stores, plus online orders for delivery and click and collect, have implemented the change.

It will use a minimum of 50% less plastic and save 140 tonnes of it a year, says the supermarket.

You can also recycle the film at any of Sainsbury’s front-of-store flexible plastics recycling points, which are usually as you come in the doors.

To find your nearest Sainsbury's just use the store locator tool on its website.

The change follows a backlash from last month, when shoppers  slammed the supermarket for introducing vacuum-sealed mince.

It replaced a sturdier plastic tray and film lid where the meat could move around inside.

Customers were disgusted, saying it was "not mince at all now" and that it "comes apart in lumps".

And these aren't the only changes Sainsbury's has made in the past.

In 2019, Sainsbury's removed plastic bags on fruit and veg in stores.

A reusable drawstring bag now costs 30p, and if you don't want one, you need to bring your own container.

More recently, the supermarket giant joined other major stores by removing plastic lids on bottle cartons.

It confirmed that it had gradually been rolling our clear milk bottle tips for semi-skimmed milk since October.

The retailer confirmed it is planning to make the change across its entire milk supply this year.

Elsewhere, Tesco is wrapping standard length rolls of toilet paper more tightly onto the cardboard inner tubes.

Its selling the bathroom essential labelled as lasting longer and with 50% more sheets per roll.

But some say the new design has thinned out the paper and left their "delicate places irritated”.

The new method of winding rolls more tightly has led to Tesco switching its standard 24 packs of toilet paper for packs of 12 "double" rolls.