In a move to reduce food waste, Tesco has decided to temporarily adjust its crop specifications and sell British apples blemished by frosts that hit British growers in April.
Temperatures dropped to -4°C at the end of April in parts of the UK and caused a fruit blemish known as ‘frost ring’, which leaves a ring mark around the circumference or a large blemish on the skin.
For some growers this will mean a struggle supplying apples to supermarkets because of crop specifications set by retailers governing the overall look and quality of fruit and vegetables.
But to help growers and prevent otherwise perfectly good apples from going to waste, Tesco has widened these specifications to ensure they will still go on sale.
The move by Tesco will mean a variety of different apples, which may otherwise have been wasted, will make it to supermarket shelves across the UK. This will include 300 tonnes of the Bramley variety.
John Worth, Tesco’s apple expert, said: “We’re working with our apple growers to use as much of the crop and prevent perfectly good fruit from going to waste.
“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.”
Slightly blemished apples will be sold as part of the supermarket’s standard range, while the more blemished fruit will be sold as part of Tesco’s ‘Perfectly Imperfect’ range.
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