Supermarkets used to tag food and drink to prevent thefts but now Tesco is slapping security tags on their shopping baskets.

With the cost-of-living crisis causing a rise in food theft, supermarket shoppers have seen all sorts of items security tagged— including milk, butter, meat, and bars of chocolate.

But at least one Tesco store in Theydon Bois, in the Epping Forest district, has begun tagging their shopping baskets after a spate of thefts.

The measure comes just days after one branch in Bristol was checking customers on CCTV before letting them in the door in a “nightclub-style door policy''.

The Bristol branch has also moved their shopping baskets away from the doors to stop thieves piling them up with shopping and running out.

One shopper in the Essex village, James Beach, 45, said: "I couldn't believe it when I saw they had stuck tags on shopping baskets - I mean, what are you going to do with one of them?

"Is there nothing these people won't nick?"

He added: "I spoke to one of the staff and she said they'd had loads of thefts so they were tagging the baskets now to try and deter people."

Tesco has been approached for comment.