The Dealer noted with interest recent comments from Tesco regarding imports from New Zealand.

The British supermarket giant insisted that all food sold in its outlets, including product imported from New Zealand, had to be produced in a sustainable manner.

A senior Tesco official said the retailer aimed to ensure that 100% of its fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and dairy produce was sourced from “environmentally accredited” suppliers.

The Tesco official pointed out that UK suppliers had to measure and report their carbon footprints from last year, and had to commit to working towards net-zero.

The comments from Tesco are obviously interesting on a number of levels.

Worryingly for farmers, they suggest that the demands from retailers – in terms of the environmental and climate credentials of the food they sell – will inevitably be loaded back on the primary producer without any guarantee of higher prices.

More broadly, the remarks from the Tesco executive suggest that while Britain may seek to deviate from EU food quality regulations to facilitate trade deals with countries such as the US, there is no guarantee that UK retailers will buy into such a ‘cheap and cheerful’ approach.