Sainsbury's defends vac-pack mince after complaints

Sainsbury's has defended its new minced beef packaging after some shoppers complained it turned the meat to mush.

The store explained the mince was being vacuum packed to use 55% less plastic.

It came after shoppers expressed their distaste, with one saying the meat now resembled "a rectangle of mushed off cuts" and another "someone's kidney".

The meat had been packaged in a plastic tray covered with film but Sainsbury's has now printed leaflets to explain the eco-friendly change.

The supermarket had announced it was "the first UK retailer to vacuum pack all beef mince saving 450 tonnes of plastic each year".

Vicki Cole, from Huddersfield, buys on average four 750g packs of mince per month for her batch cooking.

"Minced beef is really versatile and reheats well so I make a lot of cottage pie, lasagne, chilli and a keema curry," she said.

But she spotted the difference while doing her food shop.

"I was looking at it and there was a lady filling the fridges and she said 'it's new packaging but it's exactly the same mince' and so I put two packs in my trolley out of necessity really."

When Mrs Cole opened the pack at home she said it looked "pretty unappetising".

"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."

Mrs Cole said it took her 40 minutes to cook and was therefore tougher and chewier.

She said Sainsbury's had offered her a refund in Nectar points which she will accept but said she wanted the store to rethink the change.

"I get that we need to use less plastic," she said. "But unless they find an alternative that's going to work they're going to lose customers because I shan't be buying it from there. They need to listen to the feedback."

Mrs Cole was not alone - other shoppers have posted photographs and comments on social media.

Sainsbury's shopper Sam Bowman tweeted that he was "not a fan of the new Sainsbury's beef mince packaging".

"Feels very medical - like I've just bought someone's kidney to cook at home," he added.

Another customer tweeted that the new packs had "no minced texture at all".

They received a reply from Sainsbury's saying "the new packaging process makes the mince more compact than before".

"It does require more breaking up in the pan with the back of a spoon or spatula," the reply from Sainsbury's official Twitter account said.

Another customer who tweeted that they were "repulsed by the vacuum packed mince beef" was told by Sainsbury's: "The packaging is also smaller in size, helping customers to use their freezer and fridge space more efficiently."

Other shoppers did not mince their words when writing reviews on the Sainsbury's website.

One review under the heading: "The dog would not like it" labelled the mince "disgusting".

"Looks like a rectangle of mushed off cuts," they wrote.

Another wrote: "The new packaging is awful, it turns the mince into mush. It's very hard to cook and smells off, looks very unappetising. Would not recommend."

Steve Dresser, the boss of retail consultancy Grocery Insight, said: "It's fair to say the change has not been well received, at all."

He said that while sustainability is important for customers "it's a very fine balance".

"This looks like a simple move that doesn't require the customers to do anything differently, " he said.

"But the packaging appears to have negatively affected the product quality which is clearly something that's impacted customers."

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."