Oh dear!

[Cider Boys]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear according to the BBC both Prince Charles and Patrick Holden ( head of the Soil Association) have had their organic produce rejected by Sainsbury’s.


Prince's veg fails store's test
The Prince of Wales has been dropped by Sainsbury's as a supplier because it says his organic vegetables do not meet the right standards.
Sainsbury's cited "quality issues" with the carrots from Highgrove.
A Clarence House spokeswoman said there were "difficulties relating to packing, distribution and storage".The store has also stopped accepting carrots from Patrick Holden, the head of the Soil Association, who blamed the centralisation of supply. Mr Holden told BBC Radio Five Live his carrots were being sent by truck from his farm in Wales to a packing plant in Peterborough.
Our priority has to be fresh, quality produce or customers will not buy it
Sainsbury's spokeswoman

Once wrapped, they were then delivered back to eight Sainsbury's stores near his farm via a depot in Bristol. Mr Holden, director of the organic food and farming charity, said he was de-listed because of "quality issues", which were "at least in part caused by transport"."The truth is if you buy your carrots in Sainsbury's, they will only come from this one pack house in Peterborough," he said. "I haven't got anything in for Sainsbury's. My issue is that all supermarkets have adopted this policy of centralisation of supply."He said he and Prince Charles were "casualties" of the system, which impacted on thousands of small farms and caused products to have larger carbon footprints. Mr Holden and the Prince's farm in Highgrove, Gloucestershire, were sacked as suppliers of carrots at the end of January. Sainsbury's said there were "significant" quality issues with the carrots from Highgrove, branded Duchy Carrots, because they had been stored for three to four months before being taken to the packing plant. A spokeswoman said: "Our priority has to be fresh, quality produce or customers will not buy it. "We have already gone to great lengths to help these farmers and will continue to work with them to find a solution." A Clarence House spokeswoman said the "short trial" to provide a small number of carrots ended with Sainsbury's decision not to continue stocking the vegetables. "There were difficulties relating to packing, distribution and storage," she added.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/6240372.stm

Published: 2007/06/26 12:03:55 GMT

© BBC MMVII

If your Royal Highness is a forum member then send me a PM and I will see you right for a couple of quality carrots (but they won't be SA approved).

Chin up

Barney

[Shallot Man]

Re Prince Charles carrots, I seem to recall many years ago in the Docks being told by a lorry driver, that the depots that held green bananas around the various dock areas, had been closed and reallocated in the Midlands, He would then drive containers of green bananas up to the midlands, passing other lorries going the other way with ripe bananas to supermarkets,

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Barney my good fellow, i won't bother sending you a P.M, just send the carrots to the appropriate address, please send some large ones as Camilla likes them big.

I can see it now,

Arise Sir Barney.

[Cider Boys]

Thank you your majesty; the carrots are in the post. I trust that I have stuck the required amount of stamps on since Camilla’s carrots are extremely large. It is a great honour to supply you with vegetables and although not SA approved (and a good job too according to that nasty BBC report) please may I be granted permission to advertise my produce “as supplied to HRH Prince Charles’’. As I hope you appreciate I have always been a great admirer of yours and all the wonderful work you carry out especially your support of the marvellous Soil Association and their exemplary work in furthering the organic movement – the further the better.

Don’t believe what that Jenny Green says about me, I’m completely organic and your true identity is safe with me.

Your loyal servant

Sir Barnacious Creep

[peter]

Is a "Barnacious Creep" a new sub-species of "Old Herbaceous"?

Perhaps a prostrate or creeping variety.

[alan refail]

Leave him alone
The poor fellow has other things to worry about than carrots.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/6245864.stm

[richard p]

proof yet again that a lot of the advisors the royals employ are poor quality, its normal practise to quietly get shot of the bats, trees etc before putting in the planning application . they cant conserve whats allready been shifted and have little chance of proving its been done.
in many cases the threat of potential problems means that more wildlife is actually shifted to prevent any problems occuring than would have been affected by the actual work in progress.