Tesco has suspended its organic box service Soil & Seed despite describing the service as producing “a well-received 12-week trial”.

The scheme was launched in November last year under the Soil & Seed brand which is owned by organic vegetable supplier Tio. At the time the launch was not referred to as a trial and there was no mention of a trial period.

The Soil & Seed service has taken a “pause for further IT development with a view to re-launching later this year,” according to a message on the service’s website. The scheme, which offered a variety of fruit, vegetable and salad boxes brought together farmers from around the UK to offer organic produce to Tesco customers in London.

It was plagued by a computer glitch at launch, which saw it offering boxes at the wrong prices but it did benefit from Tesco’s online delivery system enabling it to offer timed slots for customers seven days a week.

At the time of launch Duncan Swift, a food industry specialist in corporate recovery at accountancy firm Moore Stephen told FPJ he believed the Soil & Seed brand could confuse Tesco customers. He said: “The likes of Riverford Organic offer a unique personal connection with customers. Tesco can’t offer that sort of service and I sense this will only be a trial.”

This week one industry insider told FPJ: “I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the last we see of this venture and that it won’t be back later in the year.”

A Tesco spokesperson said the retailer did not have anything to add to the message on Soil & Seed’s website.

The news is expected to come as a blow to the organics industry after the Soil Association revealed this week that the sector suffered a 1.5 per cent sales decline in 2012.

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