IFA calls out SuperValu on 'Greek beef' question
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has raised further question marks over the country of origin of beef used by Irish retail chain SuperValu.
Following on from concerns raised by the farmers’ organisation into a product labelled as ‘Argentinian striploin steak’ discovered for sale on the shop shelf, fresh questions have been asked.
Taking to social media today (Monday, March 4), the IFA Twitter account tweeted: “On Saturday, SuperValu gave us an assurance that ‘All of SuperValu’s branded meat including beef, lamb, pork, bacon and chicken is 100% Irish’.
“Then our Livestock Chairman Angus Woods found this in their Wicklow store. It’s all Greek to us.”
Responding to the tweet, a spokesperson for Supervalu said: “We have confirmed that the beef in both cases is 100% Irish.
“Supervalu Cashel was selling Irish striploin steak, with an Argentinian hot sauce rub. The product label, in this instance, may have caused confusion.
Similarly, with regards to the allegation about our Wicklow store, the beef in the image is 100% Irish, but the wrong country code was keyed in when labelling the product resulting in a printing error.
“SuperValu has a long standing commitment to Irish farmers and 100% of our SuperValu branded beef is Irish.”
On Saturday (March 2) IFA members took to a SuperValu store in Cashel, Co. Tipperary, to voice concerns over the ‘Argentinian striploin steak’.
On the day, chairperson of South Tipperary IFA, Erica O’Keeffe, said: “Local farmers were shocked to find beef labelled like this in a store in Tipperary.”
