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Sainsbury's has defended its new minced beef packaging after some shoppers complained it turned the meat to mush.

The store explained the mince was being vacuum packed to use 55% less plastic.

It came after shoppers expressed their distaste, with one saying the meat now resembled "a rectangle of mushed off cuts" and another "someone's kidney".

The meat had been packaged in a plastic tray covered with film but Sainsbury's has now printed leaflets to explain the eco-friendly change.

The supermarket had announced it was "the first UK retailer to vacuum pack all beef mince saving 450 tonnes of plastic each year".

Vicki Cole, from Huddersfield, buys on average four 750g packs of mince per month for her batch cooking.

"Minced beef is really versatile and reheats well so I make a lot of cottage pie, lasagne, chilli and a keema curry," she said.

But she spotted the difference while doing her food shop.

"I was looking at it and there was a lady filling the fridges and she said 'it's new packaging but it's exactly the same mince' and so I put two packs in my trolley out of necessity really."

When Mrs Cole opened the pack at home she said it looked "pretty unappetising".

"They've sucked all the air out and squashed it so it plopped out of the packet and into the frying pan in a big rectangular clump," she said.

"As I started breaking it up with the wooden spatula it was staying in big balls that were cooking on the outside but not the inside."

Mrs Cole said it took her 40 minutes to cook and was therefore tougher and chewier.

She said Sainsbury's had offered her a refund in Nectar points which she will accept but said she wanted the store to rethink the change.

"I get that we need to use less plastic," she said. "But unless they find an alternative that's going to work they're going to lose customers because I shan't be buying it from there. They need to listen to the feedback."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65124883

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