Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the issue of 'farmwashing' by retailers; and what steps they intend to take to tackle this issue.

The Government will deliver a resilient and healthy food system with a new deal to ensures fairness in the supply chain across all sectors. Where farmers sell directly to retailers, their agreements will be covered within the scope of the sectoral regulations that we are introducing through powers in the Agriculture Act 2020. Farmers should always receive a fair price for their products and the Government is committed to tackling contractual unfairness wherever it exists.

In terms of how food is presented to consumers, all food sold in the UK must comply with food labelling rules: an underpinning rule of existing legislation is that food information, whether it be mandatory or is provided voluntarily, must not mislead. For example country of origin information is required for any food where its omission, when taking into account the labelling and presentation of the product as a whole, would be misleading to consumers.

Ministers will re-examine these regulations to ensure that they are working properly in due course.