Clearly British campaign: Groundswell of public support in favour of clear dairy labels

The Yorkshire Post’s Clearly British campaign continues to gather momentum after a series of high-profile public figures and industry groups pledged their backing to our calls for retailers, food processors and the wider food industry to take the lead on this important issue.

Our readers are now having their say and, in the absence of an accord on mandatory country of origin labels for dairy products - items such as cheese, butter and yoghurt - they want the British food industry to take action.

Among the messages of support published by signees, Arlene Ferris, of Rugby, wrote: “I believe our farmers deserve our support and we can really get behind them when we know for sure we are buying British.”

Steven Allcock, of Harrogate, posted: “I wish to know exactly where my food is grown and produced.”

And John Brennan, of Doncaster, added: “The only way to stop inferior foreign produce is to clearly label milk and other dairy produce with the genuine country of origin, and preferably the county of origin.”

As well as a global oversupply of milk driving farmgate milk prices to pitiful lows - 15 pence per litre in the worst cases, from a high of 33p early last year - the strength of the pound against the euro is encouraging a growing level of imported foods.

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As many as three Yorkshire dairy farmers are quitting the industry every month as a result, and so The Yorkshire Post wants to support these farmers by calling for clear and unambiguous dairy labels which show which products are made with milk only from cattle milked in Britain. This way shoppers can make at-a-glance decisions to support British dairy farmers.

Under current EU rules, dairy products can be labelled as produced in whichever country they were processed last rather than according to where the milk is actually from.

An oval-shaped label known as ‘the health mark’ adds the confusion. This label which can state UK, but this only indicates where the product was processed or packaged, not where the raw ingredients are from.

As pressure mounts on the food industry to respond, Arla Foods announced a milk price concession to its farmer suppliers. The company said it was freezing its liquid milk price for its amba on-account farmers at 23.04ppl during December despite a further weakening of the market.

Ash Amirahmadi, head of milk and member services at Arla Foods, said: “The firming of the market that we witnessed last month has turned and is weakening once more. Although milk supply in the USA and New Zealand continues to weaken, volumes in the northern part of Europe continue to increase.”

The Clearly British campaign has been backed so far by, among others, Farming Minister George Eustice, Yorkshire MEPs Amjad Bashir, Timothy Kirkhope and Jane Collins, the National Farmers’ Union, Red Tractor, the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, Richmond MP Rishi Sunak and Harrogate food shop and cafe, Fodder.

To sign the Clearly British petition, click here.