Asda is making a controversial change to its store, and shoppers will be divided

ASDA is making a controversial change to its store and shoppers will be divided.

The supermarket has announced that it will introduce vacuum packaging for minced meat to save plastic.

Asda said on Friday it is replacing the traditional plastic containers in its Just Essentials minced beef range with a lighter alternative to plastic wrap.

It follows Sainsbury's, which was forced to defend the new mince packaging it introduced early last year after customers criticized it as “disgusting”, “vile” and “too compressed”.

In August, Tesco announced it would trial a switch to “cushion packaging” for its mince products, avoiding the controversial vacuum packaging.

Asda said the new packaging, available in stores and online, contains 60% less plastic than previous versions and can be recycled through collection points in 250 of its largest stores.

The supermarket said it will help remove 67.6 tonnes of plastic from its supply chain every year.

The vacuum packaging method removes the oxygen, which ultimately causes a product to spoil. This means that the product has a longer shelf life than before it was added.

The supermarket aims to make the packaging of all its own-brand products recyclable by 2025. The latest sustainability report states that 93% has been reached.

Jon Wells, sustainable packaging manager at Asda, said: “We are always looking at new ways we can make positive changes that will benefit both our customers and the planet, and we believe this is one of those changes.

“Not only does this improve shelf life and provide greater convenience for our customers, it also removes tonnes of non-recyclable plastic from our supply chain, reducing our carbon footprint.”

Sainsbury's was the first to announce the change across its 600 stores in March 2023.

Co-op also changed its beef packaging in May 2023 for environmental reasons – and is currently introducing the vacuum-sealed versions across its 2,500 UK stores.

The change will affect a total of eleven Co-op meat products.

Lidl followed in June 2023 and started packaging its ground beef in vacuum-sealed plastic instead of plastic containers with foil lids.

Elsewhere, other supermarkets have recently made changes in a bid to cut costs and be more environmentally friendly.

Upmarket store Waitrose ditched its red, blue and green milk caps last summer.

Meanwhile, Aldi has been testing the switch since August, where the colored caps have been omitted.

At Marks & Spencer, more than 300 fruit and vegetable products no longer have an expiry date.

And Asda removed dates from almost 250 of its fresh fruit and vegetable products in September 2022.