The message
from Alan Gould contains these words:

In article , Janet Baraclough
writes
The message
from Alan Gould contains these words:


The question the OP wanted his supermarket manager to answer, was, "what
CHECKS do you make on your suppliers/ producers?". That implies an
ongoing process to ensure that suppliers comply with contracted
standards at the production end; as in "The man from Del Monte" adverts.
I was merely pointing out, that within the management hierarchy of
supermarket companies, that CHECKING task is not a branch managers'
remit.


No, but it is their responsibility to go themselves to the 'higher
levels' for any information about checking requested by a customer -

Possibly they offered to do so; the OP commented that the managers,
themselves, could not answer his question.

not
to pass the buck in the hope that purchasers will back off from
demanding information to which they are legally entitled.

This is one of the many practices adopted by supermarkets and other
retailers in their strategy of distancing consumers from producers.

Can you give examples of the many practices you mention which
illustrate this strategy?

Janet