A CALDBECK farmer's wife has urged anyone with a commitment to buying local' to diligently check food labelling to make sure they are getting the real deal, reports Jennie Dennett.

Joyce Benn, of Brownrigg, Caldbeck, bought a gammon joint from Penrith's Cranstons Food Hall that carried the store's Fresh local produce' label. But, on closer inspection, it also had Danish' written on the label something she did not notice until she got home.

"When did Danish become local?" complained Mrs Benn, who said the meat was in a cabinet with English gammon that was packed in the same way. "It should have been labelled differently and it should not, under any circumstances, have fresh local produce' written on it."

Angered by what she felt was misleading labelling, Mrs Benn called Cranstons and was told the firm had not been able to source enough local gammon so had supplemented supplies with Danish meat.

"I didn't have a problem with that, it was the label," said Mrs Benn, whose family runs a 100-acre beef and sheep farm. "It should have Danish splashed all over it."

Mrs Benn bought the meat at Christmas but had hung on to it and raised her complaint publicly this month at a Penrith farming conference.

Cranston's director Philip Cranston told The Westmorland Messenger that, as occasionally happened, it could not source all its produce locally, particularly at busy times like Christmas. "There was no dishonesty intended or meant. If we had wanted to be dishonest we wouldn't have put Danish' on it."

But he added that Mrs Benn "probably had a point" and its origin could have been "flagged-up more".

"The fresh local produce sub-line is almost part of the logo which is reference more to the company ethos than the individual product."

He said the store had not received complaints about its labelling before but he would "have another look" at the policy in response to Mrs Benn.

Meanwhile, Mrs Benn urged shoppers to scrutinise products even in stores promoting local food.

"Cranstons has done a lot to push local produce, they are getting a lot right but people need to be aware that they still need to check their labels."

Mr Cranston agreed it was probably fair advice since it was difficult to source local products all the time.