Morrisons to shelve brands using fake farm names

Labels with made-up farm names are set to be banned by the supermarket as consumers say they want accurate labelling

Morrisons says it wants to bridge the gap between farmers and customers (Mikael Buck / Morrisons)

Major supermarket chain Morrisons says it will drop products branded with fake farm names.

The decision comes after it found 70 per cent of adults objected to the use of brands that falsely give the impression products are from a British farm. Customers surveyed said they preferred the use of real place names on packaging.

Morrisons said it hopes to combat the gap between food producers and consumers, after it found that 46 per cent of shoppers had never met a farmer. Over half said they had no knowledge on how the food they buy is grown.

A total of 83 per cent of the UK population concentrated in urban areas according to the Official of National Statistics.

The supermarket says shoppers will be able to meet real farmers at its stores on Thursday in the hope of bridging the disparity.

“Real farmers have an important role to play in explaining to customers how important real British food is, and how customers can tell whether food is from the UK or not”, said Joe Mannion, head of British livestock at Morrisons.

“Supermarket customers are sometimes presented with misleading images of farmers on their food and we believe that by meeting our real farmers, customers will see and value that we know where our food comes from.”

Last month, the supermarket, which has over 490 stores in the UK, said it pledged to sell meat from British farms only.

Brexit could yet provide a tumultuous time for UK farmers.

Home grown produce is forecast to become more expensive as farms struggle to find workers and suffer without EU farming subsidies.

Fruit farms say strawberry prices could soar by 50 per cent as they face a future with potentially fewer EU workers.