Tesco 'Buy me iam Irish'

Welease

dudara wrote: »

Is that the law? If so, it's a bit daft then.

But as long as Tesco are abiding by labelling standards/law, then they are 'correct'.

Yep.. the laws in Ireland are pretty loose, and remember lots of these logo's are just branded agencies/tools not legally binding legislative statements..

For example.. Guaranteed Irish is essentially a branded marketing tool (which in fairness does attempt to protect Irish jobs).. It's a company who will let you use the logo once your product conforms to certain specifics (and if memory serves the product only needs to be 50% Irish).. Guaranteed Irish is not a legal statement, it's an independant non profit company. http://www.guaranteedirish.ie/consumers.html

It's not vastly disimilar to LIF (Love Irish Foods).. another organisation that companies can join if their product meets certain requirements. http://www.loveirishfood.ie/about-us.aspx (again in fairness they are attempting to protect Irish jobs, but non Irish companies are members once they do a specific % of manufacturing here, Cadbury's (non Irish) for example using non Irish cocoa (obviously) can carry the LIF logo and in fact is displayed on the LIF website http://www.loveirishfood.ie/our-brands/cadbury-twirl.aspx)



Here you go... Confusing yes.. but not illegal http://www.independent.ie/national-news/shoppers-misled-into-buying-products-they-think-are-irish-2047402.html
"The Consumers Association of Ireland (CAI) warned yesterday that labelling rules need to be tightened up because it is becoming impossible for consumers to tell what is Irish, and what isn't. The watchdog said there was nothing illegal in what companies were doing."

Welease

Looking at the LIF site, and interesting example appears .. yes I'm bored it may help to illustrate how it can be difficult to define Irish..

One would consider purchasing Bewley's coffee to be supporting an Irish company

They are a member of the Guaranteed Irish Association
They are a member of "Love Irish Food"
http://bewleys.com/about-us/our-certifications-awards

As a company, they talk about their Irish heritage and how they have now expanded globally..

But

Bewleys are owned by American giant Aramark (through Campbell Catering).. So they are in essence a US company now..
Their primary business is coffee, which is not a product which can be grown here (although it can and is processed here)..

So we have an American company, processing a foreign material here, who utilise both the Guaranteed Irish and Love Irish Foods logo..

Is it really that Irish?

rubadub

Welease wrote: »

Their primary business is coffee, which is not a product which can be grown here (although it can and is processed here).

Coffee could be grown here, just not very economical to do so. I have said before that website is quite vague

2) Primary Ingredients must be sourced from Ireland where possible.

Some ingredients for Irish Food and Drink Brands are not grown in Ireland e.g. we do not grow tea leaves, oranges, cocoa beans, etc so these ingredients must be imported. A brand can still be eligible when its ingredients are imported as long as these ingredients cannot be sourced from ROI.

Some ingredients are only available seasonally in the ROI, or supplies may be limited and therefore it may be necessary to import replacement/additional supplies.

My uncle grows grapes in his garden. The fact is many companies cannot compete so simply have to find another business to get into. It is not viable to run a pineapple farm in Ireland, and I would have no sympathy for a farmer who did try and set one up and failed due to having to charge huge prices to cover his overheads. There should be no blackmailing guilt trip on people, making them feel they should buy Irish pineapples just to support a business which is clearly not viable. This "where possible" is too vague, its possible to source/grow many items here but we do not. But I suppose if it is viable there will probably be some Irish brand, but where do you draw the line, if my uncle began to sell his grapes then is it recognised as being "possible", and therefore no others could be branded Irish unless grown here too.

It would be advantageous for the an Irish brand of tea to begin growing and selling coffee in Ireland, then no coffee companies could claim to be an Irish brand unless they bought from them. So as hot drinks go they would have an edge over the coffee companies.

Kotek Besar

A human can be Irish but not made in Ireland.

celticbest

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Tallaghtfornia

Just wonder have you an interest in this area over and above that of a concerned consumer. Are you in business yourself? I notice some of your previous posts are on the same subject, this is you from last Xmas for example.

Done my 'Irish' shopping in Dunnes last week the till receipt it showed my ‘Irish’ purchases



Jacobs Cream crackers Not Irish made in the UK
Erin Soups Not Irish made in the UK
Jacobs Kimberley Not Irish made in the UK
Chef Sauce Not Irish made in the UK
Guinness Cans Packaged in Belfast
Also the OH bought a Ham from Dunnes Check the attached photo out (Dispalyed as Irish meat with a UK stamp on it)


All the above is displayed on the receipt as been Irish goods surly Dunnes Stores have people who check the origin of the Items they sell

Just checked the origin of that meet though the EC code

UK 2060 EC
Grampian Country Pork Ltd
Hugden Way, Norton Grove Industrial Estate, Malton, North Yorkshire, YO17 9HG
Facilities: slaughterhouse, cutting plant, minced meat, meat preparation, purification plant
Species slaughtered: pigs

Might Tallaghtfornia just have an interest in keeping Irish jobs? So what if Tallaghtfornia has a vested interest in this issue

What was pointed out is fact - Non-Irish goods are being sold with as 'Irish'.

I always look for the Guaranteed Irish Symbol as a guarantee of the product actually being Irish.

Welease

celticbest wrote: »

Might Tallaghtfornia just have an interest in keeping Irish jobs? So what if Tallaghtfornia has a vested interest in this issue

What was pointed out is fact - Non-Irish goods are being sold with as 'Irish'.

I always look for the Guaranteed Irish Symbol as a guarantee of the product actually being Irish.

But thats kinda what I was pointing out.. Whats Irish about an American owned coffee company making coffee using foreign coffee beans?
That company is Bewley's and they carry the Guaranteed Irish (and Love Irish Foods) symbols..

(to be clear, i think they GI and LIF symbols are great ideas and do help.. they are just not as 100% Irish as people assume)

celticbest

Welease wrote: »

But thats kinda what I was pointing out.. Whats Irish about an American owned coffee company making coffee using foreign coffee beans?
That company is Bewley's and they carry the Guaranteed Irish (and Love Irish Foods) symbols..

(to be clear, i think they GI and LIF symbols are great ideas and do help.. they are just not as 100% Irish as people assume)

Sorry, I missed you earlier post, I know and I sure most people know that coffee is now grown in Ireland, however when they see the GI symbol then at least you know that some Irish people were employed at some stage in the processing of the item. In this case I'm sure that, that would be the bottling process.

tallaghtfornia

celticbest wrote: »

Might Tallaghtfornia just have an interest in keeping Irish jobs? So what if Tallaghtfornia has a vested interest in this issue

What was pointed out is fact - Non-Irish goods are being sold with as 'Irish'.

I always look for the Guaranteed Irish Symbol as a guarantee of the product actually being Irish.

Yes I’m concerned about Irish jobs and it annoys me that company’s like Jacob Fruitfeild/Unilever/ Nestle pulled all there manufacturing from Ireland and transferred it abroad but still market there product as been Irish and also supermarkets like Tesco are still marketing there product as Irish

There should be an EU law that every product no matter were its made is stated clearly on the packaging not just there offices in Ireland.

Welease

celticbest wrote: »

Sorry, I missed you earlier post, I know and I sure most people know that coffee is now grown in Ireland,

I didn't know lol.. but its not an area i monitor closely My Bewley's example is just an indication of the type of wiggle room allowed by those GI etc brands.. which I will confess I was completely unaware of also until i checked.

celticbest wrote: »

however when they see the GI symbol then at least you know that some Irish people were employed at some stage in the processing of the item. In this case I'm sure that, that would be the bottling process.

Absolutely.. as an indication is better than none, and I for one would still buy a GI brand than a non GI one, at least i know it will protect some jobs here.

(I hope my posts about GI were not being construed as anti GI or LIF, i think they are a great idea but many people like myself, the OP and I'm sure plenty others have been led to believe that those brandings implied a lot more than may actually be strictly true).

dxhound2005

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Is this relevant?

It might be, that's why I asked. If he is a manager in Superquinn for instance I would like to know.

This same subject was covered fully in Feb March in the 12 page thread I linked to earlier. It might suit a rival of Tesco to keep raising it every now and again.

tallaghtfornia

dxhound2005 wrote: »

It might be, that's why I asked. If he is a manager in Superquinn for instance I would like to know.

This same subject was covered fully in Feb March in the 12 page thread I linked to earlier. It might suit a rival of Tesco to keep raising it every now and again.

I actualy work in the Insurance industry, but my background is in foodstuffs

eightyfish

Welease wrote: »

Whats Irish about an American owned coffee company making coffee using foreign coffee beans?

Well the beans are imported, but the actual coffee product (roasting, grinding, blending, packaging) is done here AFAIK. Similarly Cadbury's is now owned by Kraft but the chocolate itself (Dairy Milk, Flake, Time Out at least) is made here. The Irish Dairy Milk is even a different recipe to the British one. Are they Irish companies? No. Do they support Irish jobs? Definitely.

How about Fyffes? An Irish company, but all the fruit is produced abroad and imported. They buy all the bananas from Belize (thanks QI). Their ripening facility is in Coventry (thanks Wiki).

It's all a bit of a muddle.

celticbest

tallaghtfornia wrote: »

There should be an EU law that every product no matter were its made is stated clearly on the packaging not just there offices in Ireland.

I would be worried if the EU gets involved, they might say all that is required is to state that the product is 'A PRODUCT OF THE EU', thus taking away all references to a particular country.

mikemac1

Moy Valley Irish Chicken
All the way from Armagh

Which is ok of course

But what's with the "Buy me I'm Irish" hanging off the aisle in Tesco with the tricolour

Tesco making a politcal statement for Armagh with the flag?
No, just codding their customers

dudara

This is a zombie thread - closed

dudara