FOWL PLAY
Lidl chicken ‘repackaged and sold as Tesco Willow Farm chicken’
An undercover investigation into the UK's biggest supplier of chicken to supermarkets also found some food safety date labels were tampered with
LIDL chicken has been repackaged and sold as Tesco Willow Farm chicken, according to an undercover investigation into Britain’s biggest chicken processor.
Tesco sells a lot of its chicken under the Willow Farm brand, a range that is higher quality than Tesco Everyday Value, but below Tesco Finest.
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It says that these chickens are “reared exclusively for Tesco” - but could Willow Farm chicken be the same as Lidl’s standard chicken?
Footage obtained as part of a wide-ranging under-cover investigation by The Guardian newspaper and ITV into 2 Sisters, Britain’s chicken processor, appears to show rejected Lidl chicken drumsticks being repackaged as Tesco Willow Farm chicken.
The investigation alleges that 2 Sisters, which has a turnover of more than £3 billion a year, has breached various food safety rules.
These include changing the dates on which day chickens have been killed, and picking up meat from the floor and putting it back on the production line.
Perhaps the most intriguing footage appears to show how rejected chicken, sent back from a supermarket, is repackaged.
It is a relatively common practice for supermarkets to send back food to manufacturers if there is a problem with the packaging, for instance.
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There is no suggestion that there was anything wrong with the Lidl chicken.
But the footage from inside the 2 Sisters factory shows meat being emptied out of its Lidl packaging, being mixed with other raw chicken meat, and being put onto a line.
The drumsticks re-emerge at the end of the line showing in packets saying they have come from Tesco’s Willow Farms.
Tesco came under fire last year from British farmers when it launched its range of ‘Farm’ brands.
It uses Rosedene Farms, for instance, as a brand for its strawberries and blueberries that can be grown in the UK as well as Morocco or Argentina.
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It uses Willow Farm for chicken that come from a number of places in the UK.
The National Farmers Union blasted the supermarket, saying the brands were “really cynical and misleading to consumers”.
The law firm representing 2 Sisters Food Group, said they were taking the food hygiene and safety allegations “very seriously” and added: “The Willow Farms brand is exclusive to Tesco, but the raw material is not. 2SFG meets the raw materials specifications for the Willow Farms brand.”
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A spokesperson for Tesco said: “We operate to the highest possible food quality and safety standards, carrying out our own regular audits at all of our suppliers to ensure these standards are maintained.
"As such, we take these allegations extremely seriously and will be carrying out our own rigorous investigation.”
A spokesperson for Lidl said: “Lidl UK takes the issue of food safety extremely seriously and, as such, we conduct independent audits to ensure that our high quality and safety standards are met.
"Therefore, we are very disappointed to learn of these allegations and will be urgently investigating this matter with the supplier.”
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