The Really Useful Milk Show
On Wednesday, January 14th, NfCG Secretary, Stella Walsh, had a busy day. She had to be in Birmingham bright and early to get to the Pebble Mill TV Studios to take part in ‘The Really Useful Show" which must be on the "must watch" list of anyone at home on weekday mornings. The subject on Wednesday was concern over the colour coding of milk in shops and supermarkets where chaos reigns.
Exeter Consumer Group carried out a survey into the marking of milk containers in supermarkets and reported this in "eXchecker" last September. Their report was published in the Oct/Nov issue of Consumer News as it was thought that the matter was of sufficient importance to be drawn to the attention of a wider public. NfCG also issued a press release which must have caught the eye of the producer of "The Really Useful Show" and so we are back to Stella in the studio.
On screen, Stella explained to viewers that there was a recognised colour
identification for bottles of milk delivered by your local friendly milkman:
In the studio the presenters had assembled a huge display of containers of milk of different sorts collected from shops and supermarkets. It was quite clear at once that total confusion reigns and that there is no standardisation at all. Also a new description seems to have crept in - "breakfast milk". This, it seems, is the same as the gold top milk your milkman will deliver before breakfast, but it does not appear in a gold identified container.
Stella mentioned several times that she was from the National Federation of Consumer Groups, the grassroots consumer watchdog. The presenter commented on the confusion and called on the milk producers to get their act together. John Morris, from the British Retail Consortium replied that a new colour code for the identification of packaged milk in shops was being prepared by the major retailers and the National Dairymen’s Association, with the intention of introducing it by the end of next year.
Standard Colour Coding Proposal
Cream colour coding will be:
Readers are invited by Stella to comment on these proposals.
Stoke Radio
On the same day Stella was heard on Radio Stoke. A local supermarket had been refused permission to install an in-store pharmacy. The Radio station asked NfCG to comment. Stella said that, in general, the Federation welcomes pharmacies in supermarkets as an extension of the service available to customers.
However, there is, she pointed out, a long term view. Local pharmacies provide valuable services to the community. They will deliver to those who are ill or elderly. They know customers and can give clear help and advice. It would be doing a considerable disservice to the community if, because of supermarket pharmacies, the local businesses were forced to close down.
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