Phantom Farms and Processor Names Used by Retailers are a Disgrace

IFA’s campaign against the branding policy by retailers has been expanded to highlight other food products which use fictitious names.

IFA President Tim Cullinan said it’s time to call retailers out. “They are using their own brands to drive down the prices they pay to their suppliers. These brands displace well-established ones that return a higher margin to farmers,” he said. 

Aldi and Lidl go a step further with their policy of inventing fake farms, dairies, creameries and bakeries. This is disgraceful. 

The reason nobody knows where ‘Connell Farm’ is located, or ‘Healy’s Farm Eggs’ or ‘Egan’s’ is because they don’t exist. They are a marketing creation designed to undermine traditional brands. 

“No more than ‘Coolree Creamery’ or ‘Clonbawn Irish Dairy’, they are a cynical marketing device designed to convince the consumer that they are supporting a local-sounding supplier,” he said.

This has to stop. These products come from our farms, not the phantom farms created by Lidl and Aldi. The established brands are trusted and cannot be sidelined.

The commitment we have secured from the Government will see a Food Ombudsman/Regulator established this year.

“The Minister must ensure that this has real teeth. It must deliver full transparency on labelling and pricing. The trading arrangements between retailers and suppliers has to be rebalanced. And it must show who is getting what from the food chain,” he said.

As farmers, we have to get a better return. Our food is produced by real farm families who are working around the clock and to the highest standards,” he said.