Supermarket chains have responded to shoppers who say they are noticing more security tags on everyday food products. While the stickers are common on higher-value items like electricals, to deter shoplifting, they have also been spotted in the chilled aisles of some stores.
This week one shopper took to Twitter to share her thoughts after a trip to her local Sainsbury's, and said it was the first time she had noticed it. @shaistaAziz, a city councillor in Oxford, tweeted: "I walked into a supermarket in Oxford city centre this afternoon to find security tags on meat and many dairy and food items. I’ve never seen this before. #CostOfLivingCrisis."
Her pictures showed corn-fed chicken, beef mince and bacon rashers all with the yellow tags labelled as 'security protected', all of which appeared to be Sainsbury's own-brand. The images sparked some discussion online, with several social media users saying this was fairly common in their local shop and they had noticed it for some time.
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A Bristol shopper, @bjurrows, replied: "I guess you didn't notice the tags in packets of ham and similar, been seeing them in Bristol for years." Another user @soapachu added: "This has been very common in lower-income parts of London for a long time. The Tories are ensuring that regions which haven't historically been lower-income will now experience it."
@pip100 chimed in by saying "I suspect things'll start unravelling pretty soon and pretty quickly. Seeing things like this makes me feel that shop workers may end up being in harms way. Used to live in Oxford and am aware of the stark disparity between rich and poor there. Trouble brewing. "
BristolLive reached out to Asda, Tesco, Co-Op, Aldi, Lidl and Sainsbury's to enquire about security tagging and whether it is being rolled out more extensively in the current economic climate. Of the three chains that replied, all of them said that it is not a new initiative.
Sainsbury’s said its tagging will differ depending on store location. A spokesperson said: “This is just one of a range of security measures we have in place and the decisions to tag some items will vary from store to store.”
A spokesperson for Co-op confirmed: “Co-op has been involved in a small scale trial of new packaging for higher value products such as meat for several years, with the additional security providing a further deterrent if a store locally experiences shoplifting issues. The move formed part of Co-op’s ‘Safer Colleagues Safer Communities’ campaign which has also succeeded in bringing in stricter sentences for violent incidents against shop workers."
The chain said it had not noticed a rise in instances of theft but that it is always keen to trial new deterrents, as safety and security for colleagues and customers is a key priority.
Lidl responded by saying: "This has been standard practice across the industry for years."
Have you noticed security tagging in your local supermarket? Let us know in the comments below.
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