NOTHING appears to spark outrage more than sticking a Union flag on something quintessentially uniquely Scottish. Like a chicken or an egg.

I have no idea what the difference is between a Scottish, English, Welsh or Northern Irish chicken and I bet that millions of consumers like me don't either.

But woe betide any supermarket which chooses to label a Scottish one as British. Cue total meltdown on Twitter and other reputable sources.

Now the provenance of products is becoming increasingly important to shoppers and rightly so.

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We need to know that animals have been reared to a high standard of welfare, clothing products not made by 12-year-old girls in appalling conditions and cosmetics not tested on animals.

We have become a very discerning generation of shoppers and retailers have adapted to suit in the main.

No longer will we accept Brazilian beef from force-fed cattle pumped full of antibiotics because it's cheaper.

The majority of us want to buy British produce as we are generally satisfied with production standards . Even better if it's Scottish as we are helping local producers.

However, there is a small but vocal minority of Scots whose hatred of all things British now extends to supermarket produce. Label a Scottish tomato with a Union flag and all hell breaks loose.

This has led to the ludicrous situation of protestors picketing at the Tunnock's factory gates in Uddingston because an eagle-eyed zealot had spotted its most famous product labelled as the "Great British Tea Cake".

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It was a flag of convenience as it was in London at peak tourist season when the city is full of big spending tourists seeking any manner of British products from porcelain beefeaters to the finest malt whisky.

Tunnock's know a thing or two about selling teacakes and they can market them any way they like. It is a hugely successful family-owned global business.

Likewise Walker's shortbread. A similar Twitter storm erupted when a woman discovered a packet of shortbread in a Hilton hotel in Kuala Lumpur which was labelled as made in Britain, which of course it was.

There are some Scots who seem to believe that products such as teacakes, shortbread and Irn Bru belong to Scotland and should not be shared with the world.

Only a Scot can find it 'amazing' to find Irn Bru for sale in Russia, where it is made, or a caramel wafer in a shop in Tonga.

I'm sure Colombians don't freak out when they find coffee from home in a faraway hotel room, likewise Japanese when they turn on the telly.

We should enjoy our Scottish produce and buy local as much as we can to support our businesses. That is far more important than a wee flag on the packaging.