Best of British?

A while back, I was rooting round in Sainsbury’s when I spotted this and my Informed Consumer attenae started to bleep:

I checked the back and, apparently, its “Made in Ireland from imported chicken”. The beef dinner is “made in Britain from imported beef”. This proved to be true for each and every item in the range. None of the meat was produced in the UK. I emailed Birds Eye about this and received what I now gather to be a standard response (it subsequently turned out that quite a lot of other people had been emailing them about this as well

http://www.utterzebu.com/blog/2009/11/01/british-food-%E2%80%93-from-anywhere-but-here/

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/881370/Tories-launch-Honest-Food-campaign-slam-Heinz-Birds-Eye/

Birds Eye were eventually shamed into redesigning the packaging and removing the words "Great British Menu"

http://www.farmersguardian.com/news/birds-eye-drops-british-label-off-imported-meat/29541.article

Well, now Sainsbury’s are at exactly the same game. Their “British Classic” range features the Union Jack prominently in the design. Problem is that the meat in the Shepherds Pie and the Liver and Bacon is New Zealand Lamb.

The Genie from Sainsbury’s Careline was summoned and responded:

Thanks for your email. I'm sorry you find our description of shepherds pie as a British Classic to be misleading. I can appreciate how concerning this must be for you, and I'd like to assure you this was not our intention.

The description on the packaging is very clear. The dish itself is a British classic, and not all of the ingredients used in the pie are British. The country of origin for the mince used is stated on the packaging.

which is exactly the same line that Birds Eye were spinning. How long do you think it will be before Sainsbury's are forced to back down in the same way that Birds Eye were?  Watch this space, and remember you heard it here first.