Sainsbury's adds 'buy British' section to better champion farmers

Sainsbury's new 'buy British' page spotlights over 450 UK-sourced food products
Sainsbury's new 'buy British' page spotlights over 450 UK-sourced food products

Sainsbury's has added a 'buy British' section to its website in a move to better champion and profile British grown food.

It becomes the largest supermarket to launch a dedicated ‘Best of British’ page on its groceries website following a campaign push by farmers and MPs.

The new page spotlights over 450 British-sourced grocery products, including meat, dairy, eggs and chilled food.

Sainsbury’s, which is the UK's second largest supermarket chain after Tesco, works with over 15,000 British farmers sourcing £2bn worth of produce every year.

It becomes the third retailer to add such a page following in the footsteps of Aldi and Morrisons.

Simon Roberts, CEO at Sainsbury’s, said: “Many of our customers want to support British suppliers and make more conscious choices when doing their food shop, and our new Buy British webpage helps them to do just that.

“We recognise the pressures that British farmers are facing and the importance of supporting them to maintain a resilient UK food system for the long term.

"Our relationships with farmers and suppliers are incredibly important to us and we remain committed to sourcing British as much as we can, now and in the future.”

It follows an open letter to supermarkets, signed by over 120 cross-party MPs, which called for an online filter signposting shoppers to UK-grown produce.

The NFU has also been asking retailers to commit to signposting British produce for a number of years.

The union's new president, Tom Bradshaw, welcomed today's move: “I’m delighted that Sainsbury’s is also backing British farmers by adding a British section online in order to signpost shoppers to home-grown produce.

“Our own independent research shows the public want to buy more British food from retailers and we have been championing this issue for some time.

"The addition of the British section online by Sainsbury’s will help customers support British farmers.”

In December 2023, Morrisons became the first major supermarket chain to add a 'buy British' tab to its website.

Aldi followed, which announced last month a 'buy British' section to its website in a bid to help shoppers support British businesses.