The supermarket chain Tesco has expressed sympathy with farmers who mounted a blockade at the company's South Wales distribution depot.

But it dismissed as "rubbish" claims by the farmers that supermarkets were making unfair profits by charging too much for British beef and not passing on to the consumer reduced prices paid to farmers.

About 200 farmers from South and Mid-Wales staged a peaceful late-night protest outside the Tesco distribution plant close to the M4 at Magor, near Newport, Gwent on Friday.

The blockade, which ended early on Saturday, held up 40 lorries for about four hours.

A delegation of protesters had two hours of talks with Tesco depot officials before calling off the demonstration.

Tesco claims it is making little money out of meat

A Tesco spokesman said: "We have been open and honest with the farmers and have had lots of discussion with them and the National Farmers' Union. We are distressed that their incomes have fallen. But it is not our fault, it is the fault of the market place.

"We are making virtually no money out of selling meat. There are huge on-costs between the farm gates and the supermarket shelves.The retail prices at Tesco have come down twice as much as the fall in market price.

"We are very sympathetic to the farmers' plight and we are working very hard to sell more British beef.

"We have seen our sales increase by 30% and we regularly buy at between 5-15% above the market rate for the beef we get from British farmers. But we have got to absorb the extra on-costs."

Government warns butchers not to sell beef

The Government has threatened butchers with heavy fines if they flout its ban on selling beef on the bone.

As many as one in four meat-sellers are ignoring the ban, according to some newspaper reports.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food said butchers could even face jail unless they complied with its controversial order.

"If butchers choose not to follow the ban then there are penalties under the Food Safety Act which can mean anything up to a £1,000 fine and or six months in prison, depending on each case," a ministry spokesman said.

"We have told all their trade bodies about the penalties and it is up to local environmental health and trading standards officers to keep a check and police the ban."

He added: "Agriculture Minister Jack Cunningham's priority has been for public health and he made the ban on that basis."

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