The new launches, including baby garlic kale and sorrel leaves, are packed within 60 seconds and offer five days extended shelf life
M&S has launched four new salad mixes grown in a vertical farming system with an extended shelf life and significantly lower fertiliser and water usage.
The four mixed packs, launched in stores this week, include Citrus Sorrel Baby Leaves, Sweet Verde Baby Leaves, Spicy Baby Leaves and Baby Garlic Kale.
Supplied by Italian agri-tech firm Planet Farms, the salads use 97 per cent less fertiliser, 96 per cent less water and no pesticides compared with conventional field‑grown salad.
An advanced controlled environment also allows crops to be packed within 60 seconds, providing five days additional shelf life to an average bag of salad, M&S said.
“The future of food is about finding new and innovative methods which put less pressure on the environment while delivering the best in market flavour and quality,” said director of technical for M&S Food, Andrew Clappen.
“These salads are vertically grown exclusively for M&S and bring new flavours to our customers with a dramatically reduced water consumption – supporting our Plan A goal to reach net zero by 2040 across our supply chain.”
Planet Farms co-founder and CEO Daniele Benatoff said: “Today marks a major milestone for Planet Farms and for the future of fresh produce in the UK and Ireland.
“After years of close collaboration and joint development with M&S, we are incredibly proud to launch four M&S own-label products nationwide and deliver the UK’s first own-label vertically farmed salad range.”
