Shoppers have expressed their outrage after Sainsbury's introduced a new vaccum pack form of packaging for its mince.
The supermarket giant previously announced that it will replace traditional plastic tray packaging across its beef mince range and replace it with a vacuum-packed alternative. According to the chain, the new packaging could save up to 450 tonnes of plastic each year.
It's one of the latest moves in Sainsbury's initiative to halve all of its plastic packaging use in Own Brand products by 2025. Claire Hughes, Director of Product and Innovation ad Sainsbury's, highlighted the reason behind the new packaging.
"We know our customers expect us to be reducing the use of plastic across our products are and we're constantly looking for new ways to innovate to meet our Plan for Better plastic reduction targets," she said. "We strive to be bold in the changes we are making, which is why we’re pleased to be the first UK retailer to vacuum pack all our beef mince range without impacting the quantity or great quality of product that our customers expect.
"This is the latest in a long line of changes we have pioneered in the space working collaboratively with our suppliers, and customers can expect much more to come from Sainsbury’s.”
Despite this, many Sainsbury's shoppers have claimed that the new packaging has reduced the quality of the Own Brand beef mince. One user on Twitter, @RobCooper82, wrote: "@sainsburys, I think you need to revert back to the old packaging. The meat is now awful to cook with and eat. I gave it ago and now won't buy it again."
A second user, @simmo1024, wrote: "The new vacuum pack from @sainsburys for mince, turns the mince into more of a slab of, what looks like, 'meat' grown in a lab. Which I guess is a harbinger of where they are going with this.
"Change it back Sainsbury's. We want mince. Made from actual animal."
A third user, @pmtweets2018, wrote: "I now buy my mince elsewhere. Waitrose don’t use trays at all so I don’t understand why Sainsbury’s had to go this one step further. They should now label the product as a paste or purée because it isn’t ‘minced’and that description is misleading. Doesn’t cook well either."
A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: "We are always looking for new ways to innovate packaging to meet our ambitious plastic reduction targets. Our new vacuum-packed beef mince packaging uses 55% less plastic and saves over 450 tonnes of plastic a year, without impacting taste or quality."
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