Tesco wants its new Fresh & Easy chain to be as ubiquitous as Starbucks in America, where it is marketing itself as a socially responsible, green and healthy alternative to established retailers.

However, a report released yesterday questioned Tesco’s record on labour relations and environmental issues and its promises of improving access to healthy food in low-income communities.

Despite Tesco’s high-profile pledges to move into “food deserts” from which other grocery retailers have moved, researchers in the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI) in Los Angeles’ Occidental College, revealed that fewer than ten of the 98 stores already signed by Tesco in the US are in high-poverty areas.

The report also criticises Tesco for refusing to hold discussions with local unions, only offering store workers part-time positions and shying away from the kind of local sourcing initiatives that it operates in parts of the UK, and points out the criticism that Tesco has faced over conditions of workers in its supply chain from charitable groups such as War on Want and ActionAid.

Amanda Shaffer, one of the report’s authors, said: “Tesco’s decision to come in as a smaller format is allowing them to fly under the radar on issues that people might have if they had come in with hypermarkets. We wanted to hold their feet to the fire and say ‘If you are saying you want to do everything Americans want, then you have to do what Americans want’.”

The report comes as Tesco steps up its public relations machine before opening its first American store in November. The retailer plans to open hundreds of small grocery stores in Southern California and the Southwest of America over the next few years.

Tesco has carefully fostered its green credentials in America, topping its Disneyland-sized distribution centre with solar panels and using a polar bear as a corporate symbol or mascot to remind people of its concern about global warming.

Ms Shaffer said that Tesco clearly had huge ambitions in America and had told researchers it wanted neigbourhood stores every one or two miles. The report claims that Tesco has ambitions to surpass Wal-Mart to become the biggest grocery store in America and that in future it is likely to open hypermarkets and other formats as it has done elsewhere.

“Tesco is going to make a big impact on the industry and and we hope that if they take a positive route it will push others in that direction,” Ms Shaffer said.

Tesco said in response that it was not antiunion and it was too early to hold discussions with trade unions as it had only recently begun recruiting staff. The company has promised to pay $10 an hour, $1.50 more than the minimum wage, and will offer health insurance unlike some rivals.

A spokesman said: “We will be a good employer. A lot of effort has gone into making Fresh & Easy a great place to work and it will be up to our people whether they want to be in a union.”

He said that Tesco would support Californian suppliers and growers and added: “We have not had the opportunity to review the UEPI report in any detail and are disappointed we were not consulted.”

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