Tesco has become the first UK supermarket to start selling greener satsumas and clementines, in a bid to cut down on food waste.
The retailer says that these citrus fruits are perfectly ripe, but due to higher temperatures in Spain, the natural process that turns the skins orange has been slowed down.
As a result, many growers have been sending the easy peelers to a ripening room, which often damages some of the fruit, and limits its shelf life.
By removing this step, and selling the slightly green fruit, Tesco says that it is helping to cut food waste in the supply chain, and in customers' homes.
“At the moment green easy peelers fall outside of the general quality specifications set by UK supermarkets but Tesco has made the leading move in order to cut down on food waste," said Debbie Lombard, Tesco's citrus buyer.
“As a result of this move to take out a handling stage in the journey from farm to fork shoppers will gain extra freshness for their satsumas and clementines.”
Food Waste Fight
Tesco has introduced a number of measures to cut down on fresh food waste in recent months.
It relaxed its specifications for apple buying after heavy frosts hampered the growth of this year's crop, creating aesthetic blemishes, and introduced a range of smaller avocados that otherwise would have been rejected by growers.
Last month, the supermarket giant announced that it had established partnership agreements with 24 of its largest food suppliers, with the aim of halving food waste by 2030.
The suppliers, who together represent over £17 billion worth of Tesco sales, have committed to reducing food waste in their supply chains, and to publishing food waste data for their own operations within 12 months.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
