Sainsbury’s has defended itself against criticism of new plastic packaging for mince which shoppers have criticised as “very medical”, “too compressed” and “vile”.
The supermarket said last month it was the first UK retailer to vacuum pack all its beef mince, part of the retailer’s efforts to halve its use of plastic packaging on its own-label products by 2025.
Responding to the criticism, Sainsbury’s said the new packaging would more than halve the amount used per pack helping to save 450 tonnes of plastic a year, “without impacting taste or quality”.
However, some shoppers have reacted with dismay on social media to the new product. One said the mince beef packaging “feels very medical – like I’ve just bought someone’s kidney to cook at home”. Another said it was: “too compressed & does not look appetising”.
Another said the packaging method “turns the mince into more of a slab of, what looks like, ‘meat’ grown in a lab.” One called on Sainsbury’s to “do a quick U-turn”.
Vicki Cole, a Sainsbury’s shopper from Huddersfield, told the BBC: “They’ve sucked all the air out and squashed it so it plopped out of the packet and into the frying pan in a big rectangular clump,” she said.
“As I started breaking it up with the wooden spatula it was staying in big balls that were cooking on the outside but not the inside.” She said that unless Sainsbury’s changed the packaging she would no longer buy its beef mince.
Another shoppers said on Twitter: “I have gone back to Aldi on mince since this … It’s so hard to get out the packet, looks disgusting after a day or so even if before use date. Vile.”
However, some shoppers said on social media critics were being too fussy. One said: “Yes, it feels a bit different but it’s still mince and still tastes fine.”
Another said: “I’ve bought it and I’ve used it. The packaging has made absolutely no difference to the product but the planet benefits greatly.”
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Catherine Shuttleworth, at the retail advisers Savvy Marketing, said that while trying to reduce plastic was positive “not every sustainability improvement necessarily improves the product presentation”.
She said retailers should test products with customers to see how they might adapt to the changes or risk losing sales.
“Products like mince which are everyday family staples need to deliver on quality and taste every time and any alteration to that will impact on sales. Shelf appeal matters. When you’ve been making spag bol once a week for 20 years the last thing you need is new instructions on how to cook mince. We know that shoppers want less packaging but they aren’t prepared to compromise too much – maybe this is a step too far from some but in the challenge of saving the planet we’ve all got to accept compromises.”
