A Cotswolds supermarket says it has become the UK’s first to make it mandatory for suppliers to tell shoppers where their ingredients are sourced from.
The Midcounties Co-operative, in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, will make it mandatory for suppliers to prove and publish where they source their ingredients from in a bid to deliver consumer transparency through the food chain.
On launching the change in February, the food retailer began actively delisting every food and drink brand across its entire ‘Best of our Counties’ range that refuses to have its ingredient supply chain audited and published for public scrutiny.
The event will mark a major milestone in the journey of Happerley, the organisation working on behalf of the whole UK food industry and all consumers to develop and implement a means to secure provenance honesty and transparency and empower the consumer to know the journey of their food.
Phil Ponsonby, CEO of Midcounties Co-operative, explained: “Transparency is a core value of ours and we are delighted to have supported Happerley from the start and believe this project will grow and grow. We are 100 per cent committed to it.”
