Several of the UK’s leading grocery retailers, including Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda, have given their backing to an industry-wide food waste initiative for the first time, under plans that could see a reduction in packaging for fruit and vegetables.

The government-backed WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) Love Food Hate Waste campaign has signed the retailers to an accord to reduce the level of food waste in the UK by 155,000 tonnes by 2010.

In a statement, WRAP said it had identified fresh fruit and vegetables, bakery products, dairy, meat and fish products as the highest source of household food waste.

The scheme will be focused on identifying solutions and will examine how areas such as labelling, pack size range, storage advice and packaging designed to keep the food fresher for longer can all help to prevent household food waste.

Retailers Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Tesco and Asda have all commited themselves to working towards achieving the target, through a series of in-store initiatives.

Actions already taken by retailers include Sainsbury’s Love Your Leftovers campaign, which offers advice and menu ideas for using leftover food, while Asda has modified its multisave promotions on products with a short shelf life that cannot be frozen.

Asda’s promotions now span a wide range of products, offering two varieties of citrus or two prepared salads, potatoes or sweetcorn for £2 instead of just one type of product, which helps consumers reduce food wastage.

Tesco is also helping consumers keep grapes fresher for longer by using modified atmosphere packaging for punnets that extends shelf life, preserves quality for longer and reduces the need for additives.

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