Coles shoppers have been left outraged after a customer spotted security tags on packets of meat as the supermarket cracks down on theft.
Mandy Van shared footage to TikTok after she spotted the small grey tags on the items at a Coles in Boronia, Melbourne‘s east, two weeks ago.
The clip, which has been viewed more than 150,000 times, showed dozens of meat trays stocked inside an open display fridge with the tags attached to the products.
‘Tell me you live in the ghetto without telling me you live in the ghetto,’ Ms Van wrote.
Hundreds of commenters slammed the security measure implemented by the supermarket giant.
‘What is happening in this world when a supermarket has more security than a bank,’ one wrote.
‘Wow, I’m sure they’ll be implementing this at all Coles stores soon,’ another wrote.
‘That’s crazy,’ a third added.
One shopper said their local Coles store prevents customers from purchasing pieces of steak directly from the shelves.
‘You have to go and ask the butcher, who puts another scanning code on the meat so you beep at [the] checkout and a second worker then scans again,’ they wrote.
Some shoppers pointed out the tags have been in place for a while at several stores.
‘Meat has been security tagged since they bought [the] self check out out years ago to stop people not scanning it, one person wrote.
A Coles spokesman told Daily Mail Australia the supermarket has introduced a range of security measures including CCTV cameras to reduce retail theft.
‘The TikTok showing tags on some meat products is a very small trial in just 10 Victorian stores,’ he said.
‘We are always reassessing and trying new security measures, and are keen to hear local feedback on the trial.
‘It’s important to note that the majority of customers do the right thing in store. Measures like this are for the ones who don’t.
Daily Mail Australia understands the trial to introduce the security tags began earlier this year.
A Woolworths spokesman told Daily Mail the supermarket also has a range of measures to help reduce retail crime.
‘These initiatives include the use of camera technology at the checkouts, double welcome gates, CCTV and a trial of gates at the exit to our self-serve checkout area,’ he said.
‘The majority of our customers do the right thing and we thank them for doing so.’
The implementation of the measures come as alarming figures revealed meat theft increased by 85 per cent between 2022 and 2023.
The findings by retail crime intelligence platform Auror also revealed 67,000 incidents of meat theft were reported in 2023.
Pork was the most popular meat thieves stole with thefts increasing by 35 per cent.
Lamb was the second most popular item that was stolen at 31 per cent followed by beef at 15 per cent.
