TESCO has been accused of being “deceitful” and “misleading” after shoppers spotted that their “British Carrots” have small labels stating they were actually grown in Spain.
Customers have been inundating the retailers’ social media channels since yesterday asking them to explain why they have put a Union Jack flag on the packaging too.
Photographs of the packaging read “British Carrots” in bold text above a large Union Jack Flag.
A Red Tractor stamp – including another Union Jack – is also shown on the plastic indicating that the food has been farmed, processed and packed in the United
Kingdom.
However, shoppers have noticed that a stamp reading “Grown in Spain” in small text has been added onto the right hand side, revealing where they have come from.
Hundreds of furious customers have hit out at Tesco on Twitter and Facebook, accusing the supermarket of trying to “trick” them.
@JustineWyness tweeted: “@Tesco @RedTractorFood Can you explain how these are British Carrots? Surely it’s only British plastic?”
@TheBatMaker17 wrote: “@Tesco oh dear Tesco, flogging Spanish carrots claiming them to be British. This is against the law.”
@PeterRust53 said: “Here’s an example how they deceive customers , the label doesn’t state English Grown Carrots; if you question them they would say they are carrots native to England that have been grown in Spain, people buy them thinking they are support English farmers, but unfortunately not.
And @Susieshoequeen commented: “Hang your head in shame @Tesco. Carrots grown in Spain being sold as British carrots?
“Please read the labels Brexiteers and buy British. Buy from Lidl and Aldi who truly do sell British fresh produce without lying.”
Others took to Facebook to complain to Tesco.
Jwan Jacqueline wrote: “Trick you into buying it as many would not look for the small print as would automatically believe it is British.
“So wrong – very misleading.”
And Tracy Tappenden said: “Please explain yourselves Tesco. Why are you deliberately misleading customers?
“If I see a large union jack on your produce, and it is labeled as British, then I assume it is BRITISH.
“However, in this case the small print says grown in Spain.”
Tesco replied to one customer on Twitter last night (MON), writing: “Hello there, we try and have 12 months supply of UK carrots. But sometimes the weather means we just can’t quite make it and have to bring in some imports from Spain or France.
“Sorry for the confusion. Thanks – Anna.”
However, this morning they claimed there was a problem with labelling.
A Tesco spokesman said: “A small number of bags of our British carrots were incorrectly labelled as having been grown in Spain.
“We are sorry for the confusion caused and would like to reassure our customers that all of our carrots described as British are grown in the UK.”
