Asda has become the eighth UK supermarket to add a ‘Buy British’ section to its online site in a bid to encourage shoppers to purchase more locally grown or sourced produce.

The supermarket’s ‘Buy UK’ page includes products from meat, fish and poultry, to fruit and vegetables.

Asda joins Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Co-op, Ocado, Aldi, Waitrose and Tesco, which have all launched dedicated ‘British’ or ‘Best of British’ sections online over the past year.

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At the beginning of the year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) urged UK supermarkets to help consumers ‘buy British’.

It came as over 110 MPs signed an open letter last summer, calling on grocers to set up the dedicated sections on their websites to help consumers find these items more “quickly and easily”, while also helping to lift the economy and reduce the UK’s carbon footprint.

Speaking of the changes, National Farmers Union deputy president David Exwood said: “It is excellent to see that all eight major British supermarkets have added a ‘buy British’ button to their websites following our campaign.

“We know from our independent research that the public want to buy more British food from retailers.

“These changes will make it easier for shoppers to do just that when shopping online. Choosing to buy British is an endorsement of the great produce reared and grown by our farmers and growers and helps contribute towards the UK economy.”