Fresh Direct

Dear Customer,

It has become fashionable to pay lip service to environmental issues, and political parties, corporations and media celebrities are all queuing up to jump on this particular bandwagon, but sadly self-promotion appears to be the main objective and few seem to add substance to their words by direct action.

I would, therefore like to applaud Julian Metcalfe of Prêt à Manger on the recent bold decision to take tuna sandwiches off their shelves in response to the sad and savage imagery from the film documentary “End of the Line” which recently demonstrated the catastrophic decline in stocks of many types of fish but particularly tuna, including yellowfin, bigeye, bluefin, albacore and even skipjack, once thought to be inexhaustibly abundant. The programme went on to extrapolate mass extinctions and empty oceans within a few decades if we did not change our habits.

What makes Prêt à Manger’s decision even more remarkable is that tuna sandwiches were probably up there amongst their number one best-sellers! Imagine; it is like Fresh Direct delisting tomatoes overnight, or McDonald’s withdrawing the burger! Not everyone is going to be so “green and bold” in their outlook, however.

It can be imagined that, should all tuna species become critically endangered, the good people of Japan would still require an annual catch for “scientific purposes”…

Here at Fresh Direct we are already engaged in an eco-friendly campaign which includes recycling, reduced carbon footprint through the establishment of our “FD Local” network of distribution centres and local farm partnerships, and refusal of excess packaging from our suppliers. We now intend to ramp up our advertising with a series of slogans to heighten public awareness further – don’t be surprised to see “we never harpoon our peppers” on the side of one of our vehicles or “our tomatoes are harvested with great sensitivity” on a banner at our Bicester headquarters. Whatever slogans finally evolve they will be designed to promote fruit and vegetables while taking the mickey out of unsustainable or unethical practices.

To add a quantum of gravitas to the subject of sustainability I should point out that, with respect to the potentially sensitive area of wild food harvesting we have engaged in dialogue with Scottish Natural Heritage, Reforesting Scotland and the British Mycological Society in the last three months and will shortly be meeting with Trees for Life and the Forestry Commission to discuss joint projects including the re-establishment of native forests through natural regeneration and the creation of an environment specifically designed for the enhanced production of sustainable wild berries, nuts, roots, herbs and fungi.

We hope to begin planting our very own Fresh Direct forest by November. Until then, remember that “no dolphins are ever harmed in our strawberry nets”!

Regards,

David Burns, Managing Director.

P.S. Stop press! Hold the front page!! I have just read this morning’s announcement by Sainsbury’s that they are tackling the issue of packaging by…wait for it…. selling their own brand of cornflakes in a re-usable bags! Is there any depth these hypocrites will not plumb in their relentless pursuit of a headline?

Is this really the best they can do with twenty years of effort from their market researchers and technical boffins? It beggars belief – it’s like the Americans dropping an atom bomb on Hiroshima then sending in a double glazing salesman the next day…Who do they think was responsible for all this packaging in the first place.

We may be sure that the cornflakes are the same as the old ones with the manufacturer now having to pick up the tab to pay for the innovation! I can see it now, “that will be 5 pence for the disposable bag, sir, plus £1.99 for the cornflakes with a surcharge of 30 pence for the re-cycled bag which you can bring back the next time you want some”. Oh and don’t forget 5 p for the carrier bag !!

Soon we will all need Chelsea Tractors doing 10mpg in order to ensure we can return enough bags and boxes to afford to shop with these shameless and manipulative clowns…