Portuguese retail chain Continente is offering its customers the experience of harvesting their own lettuce and herbs.
A pilot project has been introduced in three Continente stores - in Cascais, Matosinhos and Gaiashopping - which allows customers to harvest lettuces and herbs.
The products thus retain their original characteristics and freshness for longer, besides being more sustainable.
The 'A Minha Horta' (My Garden) project is based around the concept of hydroponic cultivation, which does not use soil, instead relying on a solution of water enriched with nutrients.
It is a more sustainable option compared to traditional agriculture because it uses less water, does not use herbicides or pesticides, and adapts to extreme conditions, the retailer said.
The lettuce varieties available are Frisadas Verdes, Roxas, and Lisas, and among the herbs, chives, basil, coriander, parsley, mint, and thyme are available for €0.99 each.
Herb Harvest
The customer collects the lettuce, cuts the herbs and puts them directly into the respective bag or cuvette, already with the incorporated bar code, with no need to weigh the item.
For this project, Continente has teamed up with two members of its Contiente Producers Club, which aims to support, encourage and certify the best of Portuguese production.
According to a company spokesperson, customers have reacted favourably to the initiative that now accounts for 22% of lettuce sales in the three stores.
‘It's a way for us to have a vegetable garden in store, to continue to offer the freshest products to our customers, with national origin, and keeping the vegetables in their natural conditions for longer,’ the spokesperson said.
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© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest Fresh Produce news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.