Comment: Tesco needs to get supply chain in order

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This is not another horsemeat scandal, but Tesco selling Dutch pork as British proves that there is still a long way to go for some UK grocers before they get their supply chains in order.

Tesco should have learnt from its past mistakes, and another meat provenance disaster will further erode consumer trust in the UK’s leading grocer.

The UK and the Netherlands are not that distant; the ferry from Felixstowe to Rotterdam is just a shade over 180 miles. Culturally we are close too: our shared membership of the EU, and by association, the Common Agricultural Policy, means that we meet many of the same standards when it comes to meat production and supply.

Random testing has indicated that a pack of Tesco pork labelled as being from the UK was most likely Dutch. Of course, selling Dutch pork as British can probably be seen as a lesser offence than selling either horse or pork as beef, as was revealed earlier this year. But the meat itself is no longer the issue for retailers, suppliers or consumers for that matter.

Tesco said that the horsemeat scandal had made it re-evaluate the way it buys and sells meat, making its supply chain simpler and more transparent. Its first promise to customers following horsemeat was: “We know that our supply chain is too complicated. So we’re making it simpler and introducing world-class traceability and testing.”

It is difficult to know exactly what Tesco has done to simplify its supply chain and improve the traceability of its meat products. What is clear is that there are still significant failings.

Tesco can easily pass the blame on to one of its many meat suppliers, directly or indirectly. However, it is the Tesco name that lives on the packet. Tesco needs to work harder, faster and more diligently. It can’t afford to be the face of yet another provenance scandal, especially when it claims to be working so hard to make things better.