Survey to investigate the varietal labelling of potatoes Part 1 (44/03)

The Food Standards Agency carried out a survey to investigate whether potatoes on sale in the UK are accompanied with an indication of their variety as required by the Food Labelling Regulations 1996, and whether this indication is accurate.

In order to obtain a representative picture of the seasonal potato market, sampling took place during February, April and June 2003. This information sheet refers only to those samples collected in February and April. A further update for the June sampling results will be published shortly.

A total of 294 samples were collected during February (163) and April (131) from a range of retail outlets, and wholesale and catering suppliers.

96 (33%) of the potatoes collected were labelled incorrectly, of which 47 (16%) were not labelled with sufficient varietal information as required by law, while the remaining 49 (17%) were not found to be the variety they were labelled as.

The majority of the 33% of samples that were either mislabelled or not labelled with sufficient varietal information were collected from independent/small chain retail outlets (23%), fruit and vegetable shops (33%), wholesale markets (20%) and market stalls (23%).

The major problem encountered during the survey has been at wholesale markets where the variety Ambo is being mislabelled and sold as King Edward. Of the 37 potato samples collected that were labelled King Edward, 16 were found to be a variety other than King Edward and of these 12 were Ambo. Of the 16 mislabelled King Edward, 13 were collected from wholesalers or market stalls.

Results show that potatoes are at times sold without an indication of their variety, and in some cases where a varietal declaration has been made, this has proved to be inaccurate. All results have been passed on to local authorities who are currently following up on results with sample owners.