Young's reject claims on " short change "

Published: 25 November, 2009

Young's Seafood has rejected claims by a leading Sunday newspaper claimed that shoppers at Sainsbury's are being "short changed" on the fish content in some of its products.

The Sunday Telegraph, which has been conducting an "Honest Food Labels" campaign in recent weeks, says that the products - battered and breaded cod and haddock - are made in Grimsby by Yong's, part of the indus Group.

Sainsbury said : "Customers are at the heart of our business so we are naturally taking this matter very seriously. We contacted our supplier as soon as this was brought to our attention. "

The paper said the 'process control' documents for the Sainsbury's products indicate that the fish content may be being routinely 'corrected' on the forms, from an actual level of 51.5 per cent to a stated figure of more than 53 per cent. The Telegraph concedes it may not amount to much, but adds savings could be considerable over time.

Strongly rejecting the claims, Young's said in a statement: "We take a serious approach to our line controls and want to give consumers what they see declared on pack. The products are manufactured to a specification which sets the target fish content of each pack at 53 per cent. Since fish is a natural product, the fillets vary in weight, size and shape. To allow for this natural variability, the average content is managed to ensure the weight declared on pack is within plus or minus 2 per cent of this target weight. "

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

- • Back

Bookmark this