Waitrose’s claims that its broccoli is available at a cheaper price than last year despite the economic turmoil have been dismissed by the British Brassica Growers’ Association (BGA) for simply trying to garner publicity.
The Supermarket claimed this week that a number of vegetables are now stocked in its stores at a lower price than 2007, even though the credit crunch is taking its toll elsewhere, reports Fresh Info.
Senior vegetable buyer Richard Bickerton suggested that “healthy” options are available to consumers at accessible prices.
But the BGA’s vice chairman Alistair Ewan hit back at these claims and argued in the Fresh Produce Journal that the statistics are not like-for-like ones because Californian broccoli was being imported into the UK last year.
He added that “[Waitrose] is confusing the figures and has swept under the table the huge losses that growers faced last year, hence the consumer had to pay more for vegetables”.
Growers are at present receiving 10% less than their sustainability level, Ewan said, something that means they are facing a “make or break situation”.
