Buying British is good for a number of reasons, but some supermarkets don't make it all that easy.

BUYING British makes sense. It boosts our own economy, keeps our own people in jobs and should make us all better off. It saves transport costs too - better for the environment.

But it's not always straightforward. When it comes to cars and washing machines, for instance, it's tricky to work out what benefit goes where. Japanese cars - bad. Jobs in Sunderland - good.

However, as far as food goes, it should be a lot easier. Until you go to supermarkets and are faced with some modern mysteries such as

l Why are there always more foreign apples than British apples in our shops, whatever the time of year?

l Why is lamb that's come all the way from New Zealand - all that fuel, all that refrigeration - cheaper than lamb that's come just down the road from Swaledale?

l What do those strange symbols on our meat actually mean?

We went round all the major supermarkets on the same day last week to see how easy it was to Buy British. We looked at beef, lamb, ham and bacon and at the vegetables. It wasn't an exhaustive survey but a snapshot of what we could find easily on one day.

We also looked at how easy it was to find the British food, whether it was easily distinguishable from foreign offerings. We found:

* It's as likely to be the Roast Beef of Old Ireland as England or Scotland.

* Dutch and Danish bacon is nearly always cheaper than British.

* Most of our mushrooms come from Ireland

* We didn't expect many British vegetables in stores at this time of year, but if we can grow our own aubergines in January, why do we have to import Brussels sprouts?

* Some supermarkets tell you clearly when food is British and even which county it comes from. Others leave you to peer at tiny print. Some are downright misleading.

* The Little Red Tractor logo is a handy way of spotting British food, but actually means that food has reached British farm standards. At the moment, all food which has this logo is British but it doesn't mean it always will be.

* The oval logo with UK on the top and EEC underneath is a health mark. It means that the meat was processed and packed at a British plant that has met certain strict hygiene standards. It does not necessarily mean that the meat was bred in this country.

ASDA

REASONABLE range of British vegetables and they told us which counties they came from - cabbages from Lincolnshire, cauliflower from Suffolk.

Plenty of British beef, selling at the same price as Irish. Lamb was mainly British with a small selection of New Zealand. There were British pork chops at £4.28kg, but the smart price chops were French and only £3.27.

There was British and Danish gammon but British back bacon was £1.78 for 250g and Dutch back bacon was £1.38. Smart price bacon was Dutch at 88p for 250g.

CO-OP

WE are indebted to a customer we met in Richmond Co-op as I was carefully making note of the "English Coxs" at £1.59 a kg.

"They 're not English," she said. "Look at the box." And, sure enough, despite what the price ticket said, the "English Coxs" were actually Dutch. They did have some prepacked English Cox at £1.79kg. They also had a good range of British veg marked on the packs, so we knew that they really were British. Well, we think they were.

But the Co-op makes up for it by the thoroughness of its meat labelling. Let there be no doubt, the stickers says that its beef was born in the UK, reared in the UK, slaughtered in the UK and cut in the UK. Most of their beef was British, some Irish. Most of the pork was British, but British pork loin steaks were £6.79 a kilo and EU pork loin steaks were £4.70kg.

Very good selection of British bacon but again, the real bargains were in the EU bacon.

M&S

THIS had the widest selection of British vegetables and - oh bliss for the short-sighted - the most clearly marked. It was very easy to pick out British products.

They had two lots of British apples - Coxs and Royal Gala at £1.49, the same price as French Granny Smiths. A good range of vegetables, including some organics.

Plenty of British beef, lamb and pork, clearly marked. But the joints with added extra tended to be foreign. The leg of lamb with rosemary and sage was New Zealand, but packed in UK, the Mustard Gammon was a product of Denmark, packed in UK.

Plenty of British bacon - at the same price as Danish for single packs. But the special offer on double packs was only on the Danish,

MORRISONS

GOOD range of British vegetables but it's quite hard to find the labels telling you so. English Coxs were the most expensive apples - at £1.49, the same price as Washington Reds all the way from the US. French Granny Smiths were £1.09 and Royal Gala 89p. One of the few places to have British mushrooms.

The meat was British and Australian but the British meat was very clearly marked and easy to find - lots of Union Jacks.

There was British bacon on the deli-style counter where you're served by an assistant, but almost all the pre-packed bacon was Dutch or Danish. British back bacon was £1.19 for 200g. Dutch back bacon was 99p for 200g.There were some British bacon joints, but all the gammon joints were Danish.

SAFEWAY

A DECENT range of British vegetables - this is where we found the aubergines - all clearly marked, so easy to find. Plenty of cabbage, kale, potatoes, onions, swede and parsnips. British new potatoes were £1.19 for 500g, but French new potatoes were on offer at 1.5kg for £2. But we don't know how the taste compared.

The only English apples were Egremont Russett at £1.69 kg - compared with French Royal Gala at £1.29 or Golden Delicious at £1.19 a kilogram.

Mostly British meat, though some Irish beef and New Zealand lamb. Good selection of British bacon and gammon joints, but British back bacon was £10.62 kg and Danish was £9.17 kg. Most of the cheap packs of bacon were Danish.

SAINSBURY

A BANNER on the vegetable shelf says "Supporting the English Grower,". We take it that by English they mean British - potatoes and cabbages from Scotland, new potatoes from Somerset, onions from Norfolk.

English Cox apples were £1.59 compared with French Granny Smith at £1.19 and Italian Pink Lady at £2.49.

All the pork was British under a Great Taste of Britain banner. Most of the lamb was British, some New Zealand. Most of the beef was British, some Irish.

Reasonable selection of British bacon and they even had a special offer on British bacon. Mind you, they had two other offers on Danish bacon.

Although we weren't specifically looking, we noticed they had a brilliant range of British cheeses.

TESCO

THEY had two varieties of British eating apples - Cox at £1.39,Gala at 99pkg - for once, the British apples were the cheapest there, compared with French Golden Delicious at £1.09 and Italian Braeburn at £1.29.

Lots of British veg, all easily spotted, but French baby potatoes were on special offer.

Most lamb was British, most pork was British - but the organic pork was German. Plenty of Scottish and British beef, but Australian organic.

The bacon joints were British but the gammon was all Danish. Lots of Danish bacon but reasonable choice of British. Their Value bacon was described as "from British, Danish or Dutch producer" - less than specific.

PLEASE...

...we think most stores sold a reasonable selection of British products, the difficulty was finding them. Some veg come in boxes full of Union Jack paper - easy to spot. Others are totally anonymous.

Obviously we'd like stores to stock more British produce, but could they at least label what they already stock nice and clearly so we can find it?