A shopper has been left confused after finding strawberries from Perthshire and Tayside were labelled differently in a Scottish store.
Scott Rogers posted an image on social media of two punnets of strawberries from a Co-op store in Glasgow.
He questioned why strawberries from Perthshire were labelled ‘Scottish’ but those from Tayside were labelled ‘British’.
In the image, the strawberries have almost identical packaging, except those originating from Tayside are labelled “British strawberries”.
Scott wrote on Twitter: “Today I learned that Perthshire strawberries are Scottish, while Tayside strawberries are British.”
#KeepScotlandTheBrand campaign
Recent campaigns have sprung up to call on supermarkets to respect Scotland as a brand.
One social media campaign, #KeepScotlandTheBrand, was established by Ruth Watson from Kirriemuir.
Speaking in 2017, Ruth criticised the rebranding of Scottish produce as British, and called on supermarkets to do better.
She told one newspaper: “The Scottish branding identity is worth millions to our economy – Scottish meat and lamb, for example, have a global cache.
‘Scottish provenance is extremely important’
“People abroad think of the clean water, and good quality produce, when they hear Scotland.
“If we move away from that Scottish brand identity, which we have spent decades building, then we will lose our footfall here.”
Pete Wishart, Perth and North Perthshire MP, says it is important that retailers pay close attention to labelling.
He said: “I know a lot of people play down the labelling of Scottish produce but for farmers and consumers it is something we should take great care over.
“Scottish provenance is extremely important and Scottish consumers want to know that they are doing what they can to support local producers.
On occasions, we may not have enough Scottish packaging available and we use British to avoid any product waste
“We are also building an international reputation for Scottish food and drink and inconsistent labelling at home does not help that effort.
“If it is produced in Scotland it should properly labelled be as such.”
A spokesperson for the Co-op said: “To ensure we have homegrown strawberries available for our customers we work hard to extend the season with varieties planted in different regions of the country throughout the year.
“We always endeavour to use the best in season, which at the moment are grown in Scotland.
“However, on occasions, we may not have enough Scottish packaging available and we use British to avoid any product waste.”