Survey to investigate the varietal labelling of potatoes Part 2 (45/03)

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. The results for samples collected in February and April were published in October in FSIS 44/03. This information sheet reports results for those samples collected during the final sampling period in June, along with a summary of the results for all the samples collected in the course of this survey.

A total of 154 samples were collected during June from a range of retail outlets, and wholesale and catering suppliers. Thirty four (22%) of the potatoes collected in June were labelled incorrectly, of these 17 (11%) were not labelled with sufficient varietal information as required by law, while the remaining 17 (11%) were not found to be the variety they were labelled as.

Some improvements in practices have therefore been seen since the February and April sampling periods (Part I of the survey) when 33% of potatoes sampled were incorrectly labelled, compared with 22% in June. Notably, in the June sampling period none of the 23 Jersey Royal samples were found to be mislabelled, an area in which potential problems were thought to exist.

Of the 448 samples collected over the course of the full survey, 129 (29%) were not appropriately labelled. Sixty three potatoes (14%) were not labelled with sufficient varietal information, while 66 (15%) were labelled with the wrong varietal name.

The major problem encountered during the survey has been at wholesale markets where the Ambo variety was mislabelled and sold as King Edward. Of the 17 potato samples collected in June that were labelled ‘King Edward’, Six (35%) were found to be a variety other than King Edward and five of these were Ambo. Of the six mislabelled King Edwards, four were collected from wholesalers or market stalls.

During the full survey, 54 potatoes labelled as King Edward were collected. Of these potatoes, 22 (40%) samples were wrongly labelled and were found to be varieties other than King Edward, seventeen (31%) were found to be of the Ambo variety.

The 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, which are currently following up the results with sample owners.