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Back British food or risk more empty shelves, warns NFU

Back British food or risk more empty shelves, warns NFU

UK government should back British food production to secure a home-grown supply of food or risk seeing more empty shelves in the nation’s supermarkets, a leading farming organisation warned recently amid acute shortages of eggs in the country.

The warning from National Farmers' Union (NFU) comes at a time when people are seeing empty egg shelves while fruit and veg growers are under massive pressure due to soaring energy costs and workforce shortages.


NFU president Minette Batters urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to honour commitments to support British farmers through the energy crisis.

“Shoppers up and down the country have for decades had a guaranteed supply of high-quality affordable food produced to some of the highest animal welfare, environmental and food safety standards in the world.

“That food is critical to our nation’s security and success. But British food is under threat.

“We have already seen the egg supply chain crippled under the pressure caused by these issues and I fear the country is sleepwalking into further food supply crises, with the future of British fruit and vegetable supplies in trouble," Batters said.

Other reports say the entire industry is facing a shortage of eggs for a number of reasons, including avian flu leading to a culling of flocks, producers cutting back on the amount they are producing and also leaving the industry due to increased costs.

To combat the egg shortage and to prevent empty shelves, supermarkets such as Asda and Morrisons have introduced a limit of two boxes of eggs per customer, Yahoo reported.

Confirming that the supermarket has introduced a temporary limit of two boxes per customer, a spokesperson for Asda said that the supermarket is working hard with suppliers to resolve the industry challenges.

“The past few years have shown the strength of our supply chains and we are adept at managing temporary shortages of products to ensure that there are options on our shelves for our customers," reports quoted the spokesperson as saying.

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New benefits scheme for Fed members

New benefits scheme for Fed members

The Federation of Independent Retailers (The Fed) has launched an exclusive benefits scheme for Fed members.

Called FedPlus, the scheme offers a range of discounts on a host of goods and activities, from everyday purchases to luxury products.

Through FedPlus, Fed members will have access to a range of fantastic money-saving benefits covering a wide variety of areas – from health and well-being to home and car essentials, and from food and drink to fashion and tech, entertainment, travel and experiences.

There is a Savings Calculator to show how much has been saved, based on monthly or annual spending, on a range of everyday categories. The Savings Calculator will generate a personal savings total and provide links to the individual deals.

Launching FedPlus, National President Mo Razzaq said: “In my inaugural speech at the Fed’s Annual Conference in June, I spoke about the importance of providing more benefits to help members make money, save money and make business easier.

“Just four months on, we are delighted to bring you FedPlus. This is an exciting new addition to our ever-growing list of member benefits which brings you quick, at your fingertips access to several offers across a wide range of categories so the money in your wallets and purses goes even further in these financially strained times.”

Members can access the scheme through thefedonline.com website. It went live yesterday (October 31).

FedPlus is managed and run for the Fed by Parliament Hill Limited, which has been providing benefit management solutions for membership organisations for the past 20 years. Top name companies offering discounts include Virgin Experience Days, Nuffield Health, Hotpoint, Halfords, Boots, Curry’s and EE.

Tom Sparke, joint managing director and client services director at Parliament Hill, said: “We are looking forward to working with the Fed to assist them in the fantastic support that it provides for its members.

“The Fed has a strong commitment to supporting its members, which aligns with the Parliament Hill ethos of placing the needs of our clients’ members at the heart of what we do.”

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