gluten free familyA mum's blog about gluten-free living in Australia

Coles pops up frequently on this blog as a strong player in the gluten free market — so I was disappointed when it recently went missing in action on another food issue that is close to my heart.

In the gluten free market, we applaud Coles for resisting the path taken by other retailers who push their own self-branded merchandise — potentially stifling innovative new products — in a bid to corner the market. As a result, its shelves, in our view, contain the best selection of products.

So Coles is mentioned frequently on Gluten Free Family, even though we have never had any direct contact with the company, save the odd conversation on their stand at the gluten free expos. We are realists, though, and recognise that the strategies of these big corporate types are usually more about the bottom line than customer needs, but if the end result is more product variety, it seems disingenous to complain too loudly — even if their product ranges do sometimes disappoint or cost more than you might wish.

But as you may have noticed, it is not only gluten free and dairy free products that take my interest. I also like to track cruetly-free products and I’m always on the lookout for genuinely free-range meat products. The limited offerings from the Aussie supermarkets has even led me to seek out gluten-free vegetarian meal options — no mean feat when you also have to exclude wheat and dairy. Vegetarianism is also a difficult dietary regime to impose on fussy kids and meat-loving partners.

So as a compromise I’ve been sourcing a range of pork products from a Sydney meat distributor called Feather and Bone which supplies a delicious range of ham, bacon, chicken meat etc from sustainably (and kindly) raised animals.

Then recently I noticed a few new free-range pork products turn up in Coles supermarkets. (It’s worth noting that though many of these are bred free range, this does not guarentee quality of life for the animal beyond birth and lactation unless it’s RSPCA-endorsed).

Because of this, Coles was recently invited to participate in a panel discussion on ethical pig farming at a recent Feather and Bone open day.  To their credit they agreed to come, but a very last minute cancellation by the speaker’s manager (with no replacement offered) led some participants to speculate  about whether this was an intentional ploy to disrupt the discussion.

I really hope this was not the case. I did write to Coles via email and ask about the last minute cancellation, and why they were unable to send a replacement to the open day, but to date have received no reply.

I think it’s a disappointing move by Coles and I think the retailer missed an opportunity to demonstrate yet another area in which they are showing some leadership in tune with evolving consumer preferences.

Lucy

Or get our newletter . . .