Tesco denies claims it advised consumers to go vegetarian
4 March 2010
SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has denied it is advising customers to go vegetarian in order to cut their carbon footprint.
Its claims follow the launch of its new Greener Living website, where the retailer is encouraging consumers to reduce their impact on the environment by changing their cooking and eating habits.
Along with advice to buy local and seasonal produce, the website also tells consumers a vegetarian diet would use less energy than a meat-based diet.
The website says: “Vegetables use less energy to produce than meat. So eat vegetarian or vegan meals to reduces (sic) your environmental impact and lower your carbon footprint.”
The advice led to criticism from the livestock industry which questioned why the UK’s biggest retailer – and the farming industry’s biggest customer - was telling consumers to go vegetarian.
NFU livestock board chairman Alistair Mackintosh said: “It is disappointing to see advice like this being given out. This is a complex issue and it is wrong to look at it in such a simplistic way.
“UK agriculture takes the issue of environmental impact very seriously as shown by a number of initiatives such as the industry roadmap, and as an industry we continue to look at ways to further reduce our impact.”
A Tesco spokesperson said it was not the supermarket’s intention to convert shoppers to a completely vegetarian diet, but the advice was just one of many ways consumers could cut their carbon footprint.
The spokesperson said: “Our Greener Living Website offers a combination of facts and ideas to help customers reduce their carbon footprint.
“Tesco is proud to be the number one retailer of British meat.”
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