One of the country's top chefs, Jp McMahon, has criticised Tesco's decision to use a number of fictional farm names on a new range of own-brand products.
McMahon (pictured), who owns and operates Michelin Star restaurant Aniar in Galway, as well as Cava Bodega and EAT Gastropub, posted a message on Twitter calling Tesco's use of fictional farms in its branding for it’s Everyday Value range as "an insult to real farmers".
McMahon's call for solidarity with farmers, which has already been retweeted nearly 900 times, comes after the UK's National Farmers Union (NFU) also questioned the supermarket's decision on the new product's branding.
In a blog post on the NFU website, Phil Bicknell, the NFU's Head of Food and Farming, said that the names of the farms used by the retailer "don’t have any link to where the product has been sourced from, something that has the potential to confuse or even mislead customers."
Last week, Tesco launched the new range, which featured seven different farm brands, including Redmere Farms for vegetables and Boswell Farms for beef.
"Time will tell how shoppers react, but I can’t help thinking that a fabricated brand that implies a degree of provenance could be viewed by some as misleading," said Bicknell.
