Editing Sainsbury's (section)

==Controversy==

=== Animal welfare ===
Sainsbury's supplies a vast majority of its meat from [[intensive farming|intensive farms]], as such there is frequent reporting of animal abuse in its supply chains. In December 2021 footage emerged from an intensive chicken farm in the Sainsbury's supply chain showing dead and wounded turkeys amongst living ones. The birds were confined to a large shed with no natural light.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dalton |first=Jane |date=18 December 2021 |title=Dead and wounded turkeys found among living at farm linked to supermarkets |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/turkey-christmas-supermarket-dead-b1978453.html |access-date=3 June 2024 |work=The Independent }}</ref>

In December 2023 animal rights activists secretly filmed at a duck farm in the Sainsbury's supply chain. Workers were captured swinging ducks by their necks and slamming them into draws. The video showed insanitary sheds, with dead ducks piled up.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dalton |first=Jane |date=24 December 2023 |title=Ducks destined for Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury swung by necks and slammed into drawers in 'harrowing' video |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/duck-tesco-waitrose-sainsbury-morrisons-cruelty-b2455575.html |access-date=3 June 2024 |work=The Independent }}</ref>

In February 2024, a [[BBC News]] investigation revealed 20% of chickens sold at Sainsbury's had severe ammonia burns from living in excrement. They stated [[hock burns|hock burn]] was "a sign of poorer welfare on farms".<ref>{{cite news |date=29 February 2024 |title=Millions of store chickens suffer burns from excrement |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68406398 |access-date=3 June 2024 |work=BBC News }}</ref>

In March 2024, a farm in the Sainsbury's supply chain was found to be keeping egg laying hens in "appalling conditions". Footage showed injured and collapsed hens, a sick hen with a bloody head, many dead hens, prolapses, feather loss and poor 'enrichment' facilities for the birds.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Evans |first1=Alex |last2=Gamble |first2=James |date=24 March 2024 |title=Leeds egg farm for Sainsbury's found keeping hens in 'appalling' conditions |url=https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/leeds-farm-supplying-eggs-sainsburys-28879000 |access-date=3 June 2024 |website=Leeds Live }}</ref>

In April 2024, cameras were placed in a slaughterhouse that was processing pigs for Sainsbury's. Footage showed workers hitting pigs in the face before they entered a carbon dioxide gas chamber to die. After the footage emerged, the [[RSPCA]] called for the government to end gas chamber killings.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dalton |first=Jane |date=3 April 2024 |title=Pigs hit in face before 'agonising' CO2 death at supplier for Tesco, Asda, Aldi and M&S |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pigs-bacon-tesco-asda-aldi-mands-b2520254.html |access-date=3 June 2024 |work=The Independent}}</ref>

Sainsbury's, along with [[Waitrose]] and other supermarkets, has phased out  [[eyestalk ablation]] of shrimps within its supply chain.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ungoed-Thomas |first=Jon |date=2025-02-15 |title=Waitrose to stop selling suffocated farmed prawns, as campaigners say they feel pain |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/15/prawn-farming-cruelty-electrical-stunning-waitrose |access-date=2025-05-09 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

=== VAT avoidance scheme ===
Prior to 2005, Sainsbury's devised a scheme to avoid [[VAT]] by treating a 2.5% ''card transaction fee'' as exempt from the tax, although the total charged to the customer remained the same. [[HMRC]] used a [[Test case (law)|test case]] against [[Debenhams]] to outlaw the practice in 2005.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brooks |first=Richard |date=2013 |title=The Great Tax Robbery |location=London |publisher=Oneworld |page=297 |isbn=978-1-78074-371-4}}</ref>

===Kenyan worker conditions===
In 2006, anti-poverty charity [[War on Want]] investigated the production of [[cut flowers]] to supermarkets, and criticised the conditions faced by workers at Sainsbury's [[Kenyan]] suppliers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Growing Pains |url=http://www.waronwant.org/campaigns/supermarkets/cut-flower-industry/inform/16374-growing-pains |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090816165326/http://www.waronwant.org/campaigns/supermarkets/cut-flower-industry/inform/16374-growing-pains |archive-date=16 August 2009 |website=War on Want}}</ref>

=== Dairy price fixing ===
In 2007, Sainsbury's was fined £26&nbsp;million for its involvement in a dairy product cartel.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/aug/10/tesco-attacks-oft-price-fixing-fine|title=Tesco threatens legal action over OFT dairy price-fixing fine|agency=Press Association|date=10 August 2011|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=4 September 2016|archive-date=23 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923155033/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/aug/10/tesco-attacks-oft-price-fixing-fine|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7132108.stm|title=Supermarkets admit milk price fix|work=BBC News|date=7 December 2007|access-date=4 September 2016|archive-date=19 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210219132157/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7132108.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Fairtrade tea===
In May 2017, the supermarket was criticised by organisations including [[Oxfam]] for dropping its [[Fairtrade certification|Fairtrade]] label from [[tea]]. They queried how Sainsbury's own standards would be higher than those of [[Divine Chocolate]], an ethical trading company part-owned by [[Theobroma cacao|cocoa]] farmers in Ghana, said Sainsbury's move was tipping the balance back in favour of retailers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jun/24/fairtrade-crashing-down-sainsburys-tesco-tea-growers-nairobi|title=Move by UK supermarkets threatens to bring Fairtrade crashing down|first=John|last=Vidal|date=24 June 2017|work=The Guardian|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-date=26 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326104112/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jun/24/fairtrade-crashing-down-sainsburys-tesco-tea-growers-nairobi|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/b0a5ba16-3fdd-11e7-82b6-896b95f30f58|title=J Sainsbury criticised over move to drop Fairtrade label from tea|website=Financial Times|date=23 May 2017 |access-date=27 January 2018|archive-date=27 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127202548/https://www.ft.com/content/b0a5ba16-3fdd-11e7-82b6-896b95f30f58|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Receipt scanning===
[[File:Sainsburys checkout barriers 1.jpg|thumb|Customers in some Sainsbury's stores are held in a barriered area until they scan their receipt]]
In 2022 Sainsbury's began to introduce new [[Retail loss prevention|security arrangements]] in some stores to reduce [[shoplifting]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nazir |first1=Sahar |title=Sainsbury's faces backlash as it makes shoppers scan receipts to exit stores |url=https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2022/12/sainsburys-scan-receipts-exit/ |work=www.retailgazette.co.uk |date=13 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705134051/https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2022/12/sainsburys-scan-receipts-exit/ |archive-date=5 July 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> Customers are held within a barriered area and must scan their printed receipt on an [[Barcode reader|optical scanner]] to open an automatic gate, before they are permitted to exit the store. The change has been criticised in the media for inconveniencing customers and presuming all customers to be potentially guilty of theft until they are able to prove their innocence. Sainsbury's stated that the new system was necessary following a 22% increase in shoplifting as a result of the [[2021–present United Kingdom cost-of-living crisis|cost-of-living crisis]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sommerlad |first1=Joe |title=Shoppers rage against supermarket's scan-receipt-to-exit policy |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/sainsburys-scan-receipt-to-exit-policy-reaction-b2247476.html |access-date=24 July 2023 |work=The Independent |date=18 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327022409/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/sainsburys-scan-receipt-to-exit-policy-reaction-b2247476.html |archive-date=27 March 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='It's ridiculous!': Furious Sainsbury's shoppers criticise new barriers 'detaining' customers who fail to show receipt |url=https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/sainsburys-receipts-supermarket-barrier-checkout/ |access-date=24 July 2023 |work=LBC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506001657/https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/sainsburys-receipts-supermarket-barrier-checkout/ |archive-date=6 May 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>