THESE mints are travelling a hole lot further, after they were imported from Indonesia – despite their home being in York.

The Nestlé plant in Wigginton Road may produce Polos by the thousand.

But Poundworld, in Coney Street, instead buys sweets imported from Indonesia – 7,300 miles away, where the confectionery giant also has a factory.

Andy D’Agorne, leader of City of York Council’s Green Party group, said the situation was farcical and was like “taking coals to Newcastle”.

Coun D’Agorne said: “It’s part of the nonsense of the global economy.

“We are certainly keen to promote local food and the reduction of food miles is very much what we are about.”

Coun D’Agorne said the company’s excuse would probably be that it was cheaper to buy Polos from Indonesia and import them than buy them in the UK, but said that was missing the point. He said: “It’s cheaper on the basis of the current economic system that takes no account of the environmental impact.

“If the true environmental impact was taken into account they would be far more expensive.”

Poundworld sells multipacks of eight rolls of 18 Polos for £1 – equivalent to 0.7p per Polo. A typical shop in York was yesterday selling UK-made Polos, in tubs of 20, for 49p – or 2.45p per Polo.

The situation mirrors that reported in The Press in March 2008, when we revealed how Poundworld’s rival Poundland was also selling Polos from Indonesia.

They said at the time that while they try to source products locally they sometimes buy products from around the world to “provide consistent value” to their customers.

A Poundworld spokeswoman said their customers expected “exceptional value for money” and the firm could not offer as good value if it bought UK-made products.

She said the Polos were bought from a UK wholesaler, so Poundland itself was not involved in transporting the sweets from the Far East.

A Nestlé spokesman said: “Unfortunately, it is out of our control if retailers import items via the grey market that were never designed for the UK. The Polos made in York are for the UK market.

“We would never bring Polos from Asia to sell in Poundworld. Providing they are acting legally there is not much we can do.”