A Coles supermarket in Melbourne's east is attaching security tags to its meat trays to stop thieves from making off with their choice cuts.

Shoppers at the Knox Westfield outlet noticed the rectangular stickers adorning some of the more expensive steaks earlier this week.

The security tags have started appearing on meat trays at the Coles Knox store.

The measure stems from the supermarket chain's beef with meat thieves.

The tags have not been seen at any other Coles supermarkets.

"Electronic tags are one of the range of security measures we have in place to reduce theft from our stores," a spokeswoman said.

Over the past week Coles stores have been less stocked than usual for another reason. Three days of strike action has left dairy and produce shelves bare in some supermarkets.