March 24, 2008

British union protests on inadequate meat labeling

Unite, Britain's largest union, said it is staging protests in places like the UK, Ireland and South Korea on the lack of prominent country-of-origin labeling by Marks and Spencer.

The union raised the fact that Marks and Spencer prominently labels British meat on the front of the packet but uses a small label on the side or back if the meat is from Brazil or Thailand.

Unite said 62 percent of respondents to a survey said that if they had known they were buying meat products from Thailand or Brazil, they would change their shopping preference to another retailer.

Marks and Spencer labels do not tell consumers when the animal was slaughtered, or what processes it has been through, such as freezing, before arriving at the store, the British group declared.