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A giant supermarket chain has been criticised for having its chickens slaughtered in Scotland then driven to Essex for packaging and finally sent back north of the border.

Tesco came under fire from James Abbott, Green Braintree district councillor, who said the decision is "unbelievable" and "ridiculous."

Chickens have been taking a 1,000-mile round trip as a " practical response to a short term problem," a Tesco spokesman said.

After a packaging plant in Scotland closed poultry has making trips to Witham to be portioned and packaged before being sent back up to Scotland to be sold.

Mr Abbott said: "A lot of this activity goes on with the big supermarkets.

"I'm completely cynical about big supermarkets saying they have gone green and campaigns saying they care about the environment."

A Tesco spokesman said the temporary relocation was for operational reasons and from the end of the month Scottish chicken will be packaged in Letham, Scotland.

She said: "We know it was not ideal but the alternative was to stop selling Scottish chicken - letting down farmers and customers."

5:22am Thursday 27th March 2008

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