Supermarkets putting security tags on cheese and more everyday items

More everyday products have been spotted with security tags in supermarkets as the cost of living crisis continues to bite.

Yesterday it was Lurpak butter, today it’s cheese, with people taking to social media to share photos of £3.99 blocks of Aldi cheddar covered with a tag.

As well as cheese, £8 lamb chops in a Co-op store in Wolverhampton were spotted protected with a GPS tracking device – according to reports supermarkets are also putting tags on some baby milk.

Twitter user Tam shared photos of the cheese and lamb, writing: “If you think Lurpak is bad – the local Aldi and Coop have started security tagging food. There was a GPS protected tag on a pack of lamb chops as well…”

In reference to tagging products, a Co-op spokesman said: “Co-op has been involved in a small-scale trial of new packaging for higher value products for well over a year, with the additional security providing a further deterrent if a store locally experiences shoplifting issues”.

Lurpak has also gone viral in recent weeks as people take to social media to reveal how much its price has risen in various supermarkets.

This obsession reached a peak this week, with a 1kg tub of Lurpak spotted for a whopping £9.35 by one social media user.

The expensive tub of Lurpak butter was shared to Twitter by Josh Christian, who said: “Stop the world I want to get off… @Lurpak come on lads this is a joke @Conservatives this is all your fault we’re all going to be eating dry toast stop taking off us and sort this mess out people are starving while your m8 are getting richer”.

And that’s not the only place raising the price of large tubs of the butter, with some shoppers spotting a 1kg pack costing £9 at Ocado online.

As well as that, Morrisons is selling 1kg packs of Lurpak for £7.50 on its website, while last week a 500g tub was seen going for £5 – just a short while ago this would have cost £3.65.

Shoppers have been questioning why the price has risen so much, with Vivien McDermott saying: “Why is it so expensive? Morrisons salted butter 250g was £1.75 last week so £7 if you buy a kilo worth. Save a few quid that way.”

Jayne Gardiner added: “That’s disgusting, I’d never pay that, just to have jam on toast would cost over a tenner, no way.”

Lurpak is in such high demand that it was also spotted with security tags in at least one Asda supermarket.

​​Charlie Bennett shared a photo of the heavily protected tub, writing: “Britain in 2022… Lurpak butter is at £6 a tub in ASDA and even has a security tag on it.”

The buttery news comes as food prices continue to rocket on the whole around the country, with experts blaming soaring inflation, Brexit, the war in Ukraine and a cost of living crisis.