Spurious supermarket spuds seen off

DNA tests have proved that potatoes presented as Irish-grown British Queens for sale in a foreign-owned supermarket chain were…

DNA tests have proved that potatoes presented as Irish-grown British Queens for sale in a foreign-owned supermarket chain were impostors.

The row over the potatoes began 10 days ago when Irish growers found that cheap chipping potatoes called Fanbo were being sold in the store in bags which are used only by certified growers of British Queens.

The growers approached Mr Trevor Sargent of the Green Party, who took up the case of what he called the "impostors", which can be purchased for about half the price of genuine British Queens potatoes.

He called for an immediate investigation into the false labelling and sent samples to Britain to determine the true identity of the potatoes.

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This was also done by the Potato Committee of the Irish Farmers' Association and the Department of Agriculture and Food, which opened an investigation.

It is understood the wrongly labelled potatoes were immediately withdrawn from the supermarket chain's shelves within hours of the original complaints by farmers.