anyone knows who Walkers Crisps potato suppliers are?

[hbfcom]

Hi all
anyone knows who Walkers Crisps potato suppliers are? or do they have their own potato farms? I would like to know everything about their potato sourcing/supply.

if you can provide me their Sunseed oil sourcing/supply as well, that will be great.

Thanks in advance

Jacky

[DONNAKEBABUK]

I beleive they come from Cornwall. I will check with a friend of mine and let you know.

Katie. x

[hbfcom]

Thanks Katie,
looking forward to hearing more from u

[whiffey]

I expect you've explored their website which is entertaining and helpful

http://www.walkers-crisps.co.uk/

I am addicted to their tomato ketchup crisps, but they are becoming hard to find.

[whiffey]

Sorry, forgot to say, try the Contact Us link on their website. They'll probably be delighted to supply the information you want.

[unrulyjulie]

You cant beat a bag of Walkers! Their factory is just up the road from me.
whiffey, are they still making them? tomato snaps are lovely!!!!
Are walkers sold all over the country cause i was once told they werent?

[cazzz1975]

do you mind the noise you make eating them whiffey?

I love snaps jules, but cadburys is just up the road from me so I have to stay faithful to the brown stuff (not poo)

[DONNAKEBABUK]

Hi Jacky. I am just on the phone to my friend, a farmer from Cornwall. He is telling me that a certain farm in Leedstown in Cornwall farm potatoes for walkers. They are a special type of potato, called CRISPERS and they need to be very hard potatoes as they are sliced before they are cooked. Thus the reason why they need to be so hard is because the machine that slices them would turn a normal potato into mush. One of the reasons that some of the potatos are farmed in Cornwall is due to the climate. This farm can lift enough Crisper Potatoes in a day to make 12 million bags of crisps (40 workers).

Wow, we learn something new every day dont we.

Re the oil, I am so sorry I cannot help you with that one but I suspect you could phone Walkers and ask them, tell them its part of your University Course Work or something.

I hope you are overjoyed with my information, I am quite impressed myself.

lol.

katie. x

[daffy654]

I will only eat Walkers crisps.Smoky Bacon are my favourite. And yes they do sell them all over the country Jules :-) I would have moved back to Leicester if they didn't.lol

[hbfcom]

wow, you guys are impressed me, especially Katie, hehe

Thank you so much for all the comments.

I will try to email Walkers for more informations.

To Katie, thx alot for your help. and you are right, I am doing this for my course work, i have been researching on google for 2days, still no sign of their suppliers. coz i need to know how they deal with these potato farmers in details (by contract or they bought all their lands?)

anyway, they guys are cool, thx alot~

Jacky

[DONNAKEBABUK]

It is by contract hun and the farm workers are paid on piece rate. The farm in Leedstown is called Simon Rogers.

Hope this helps.

Katie. x

[heathfield]

There was a very lengthy discussion on AB about the SunSeed oil used by Walkers. When Walkers are asked whether it's a GM product, they reply with (quote), 'No GM products are used in Walkers crisps'.
But there's a catch. In refining the oil from a GM sunflower crop, any GM matter will be stripped out in the process. So they could be using a GM crop source and still be issuing a true statement. When pressed on the issue, they just re-state the above quote, and refuse to be drawn. The suspicion thus remains that the crop is GM.
If that's the case, the oil is most likely sourced from the southern Russia, as it would have to come from outside the EU.

There is a variety of sunflower named 'Sunseed'. When Walkers applied for their trade-mark, they couldn't use that word since it was already registered. Instead, they were permitted to combine the two separate words of Sun and Seed, both with capital letters, to form the word 'SunSeed'.

[andrea81]

Why not go for a visit, there is one in Wales and I expect some around the UK, they probably do visiting trips! x

[theprof]

I was involved in the discussion mentioned by heathfield above and I can verify that all he says is true.

The entire production process of SunSeed Oil is shrouded in commercial secrecy which has resulted in deep suspicion as to how this oil is processed and manufactured. Walkers have asserted that cross hybridisation of the SunSeed oil species with other species is impossible, yet there is no known method available to prevent this hybridisation occurring on a commercial scale.

The oil is indeed imported into the UK directly from Southern Russia and it is exempt from EU safeguard considerations for that very reason. The entire oil production of SunSeed Oil is purchased by Walkers and the majority of the farms upon which the species grows are owned by the parent company, Pepsico Inc. The entire supply chain from Russia to the UK is also owned by Pepsico. For this reason, acquiring samples of the oil for analysis is next to impossible, although it has been done and the oil does show some unique properties.

[tep]

They buy from farmers all over the UK, one of them being up the road from me. The process of potato growing involves the usage of heavy farm vehicles and the collection of potates by huge articulated lorries, which in turn desecrate local villages! Walkers Crisps are obviously not interested in looking after the environment or concerned about their carbon footprint!