Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Source: Daily Mail

They are normally found on luxury items such as perfume or single malt whisky.

But a supermarket has started security tagging £1.97 Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bars in an attempt to stop shoplifters raiding its sweets aisle. The stick-on strips will set off alarms if the chocolate is stolen.

Tagging of groceries and household items is not new. In 2008, a major supermarket chain in Eastbourne started tagging budget chickens and in 2009, another supermarket  put EAS labels on a branded Cheddar cheese.

Sarah Crodey, from the British Retail Consortium, said shoppers will start to see more tags attached to the cheaper popular branded items as the economic downturn drives more people to steal groceries and luxuries.

She said: 'Changes in technology mean security tags are more affordable and we must remember that theft from a retailer is not a victimless crimes.

'It pushes up prices across the board for honest customers paying for their shopping. Shoplifting is a serious crime.'

Major stores reported shoplifting up by a third as the recession started to bite in 2009. It is estimated that items worth £400,000 are stolen from shops every day.