Advertising authorities have sided with Tesco in a spat with Morrisons over a press ad for Finest beef.

The Advertising Standards Authority rejected a trio of complaints by Morrisons arguing that the ad was misleading.

The advert said: “Our butchers take their time. Carefully selecting meat with marbling for tenderness and flavour. Tesco butchers are fussy when it comes to Finest beef. For starters, they'll only use meat from long established, family-run British farms.”

Among its complaints, Morrisons claimed the advert suggested Tesco directly employed its own butchers and that meat was cut for customers in-store.

But the ASA backed Tesco’s argument that butchers worked for their suppliers on an exclusive basis to the supermarket’s strict specifications. It also pointed out that trained butchers prepared cuts for customers at meat counters in 374 of its stores.

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