Sainsbury's has issued an explanation after its new packaging was branded 'awful' and 'unappetising'.
The supermarket recently rolled out a new packaging rule across all of its stores in a bid to cut down on plastic waste. Sainsbury's has ditched traditional packaging for some of its more traditional meat products, including beef mince. The new vacuum packaging, according to Sainsbury's, uses 55% less plastic than its predecessor.
But while the new packaging is more environmentally friendly, some shoppers claim it is affecting the quality of the meat. One woman is now calling for change.
Speaking to the BBC, Vicki Cole, from Huddersfield, said she bought 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.
"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."
She said when she went to open the pack, the meat 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 needed 40 minutes to cook, making it chewier than normal. She added that she was offered a refund in Nectar points by Sainsbury's, which she has accepted, but she wants the supermarket to think again.
"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."
Shoppers have also taken to social media to slam the change. Some said they disliked the packaging and how it affected the meat's quality, says the Bristol Post.
Other shoppers also wrote reviews on the Sainsbury's website. One said: "Looks like a rectangle of mushed off cuts."
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, told the BBC: "It's fair to say the change has not been well received, at all. 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."
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