Tesco has called in its two liquid milk suppliers - Arla Foods and Robert Wiseman Dairies - to carry out an audit on where the retail price initiative money has ended up, according to reports.
Sources in the farming sector claimed the move followed complaints from producers that extra money paid by retailers under the initiative, which saw the retail price of milk rise by 2p per pint in the spring, had not been passed back to farmers.
Tesco refused to confirm the reports. In a statement it said: “We meet regularly with the milk processors, as we do with all our suppliers across every category. Due to commercial sensitivities, we can’t discuss details of those meetings.”