UK retailer Tesco has announced that it is relaxing its specifications for apple buying, after heavy frosts hampered the growth of this year's crop.
Unseasonably low temperatures across Britain earlier in the year caused a blemish known as a 'frost ring' to appear on the skin of many harvested apples. This affects the appearance, but not the taste, of the fruit.
To help growers and prevent good apples from going to waste, Tesco has now widened its fruit specifications to include these blemished fruits.
“We’re working with our apple growers to use as much of the crop and prevent perfectly good fruit from going to waste," said John Worth, Tesco's apple expert.
“We want to support our growers wherever we can – and although some apples might be smaller or blemished, they still have the same great taste our customers expect.”
Tesco says that slightly blemished apples will be sold as part of the supermarket's standard range, while more blemished fruit will be sold under its 'Perfectly Imperfect' range.
Food Waste Initiatives
Last week, Tesco 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, will publish food waste data for their own operations within 12 months, and have committed to reducing food waste in their supply chains, as well as making it easier for consumers to reduce waste at home.
The retailer says that this move builds on the company's 'commitment to transparency', which will also help to reduce waste further in the future.
In its stores, Tesco has already undertaken a number of initiatives in this area, such as launching its 'Perfectly Imperfect' range of wonky fruits and vegetables, selling larger boxes of produce following bumper crops, and creating new resealable salad bags.
© 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.
