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Tesco Trial New Packaging In A Bid To Tackle Food Waste

8 February 2012

Tesco is to trial new food packaging that aims to keep fruit and vegetables fresher for longer in its bid to aid in the war against food waste

The supermarket will become the first retailer to see how the packaging performs in maintaining the life of tomatoes and avocados - produce that is known to be among the highest food wasted in the food industry.

The packaging being trialed contains a strip that absorbs ethylene, the hormone that causes fruit to ripen and then spoil.

Developed in the UK by It's Fresh Ltd, the strip is said to be 100 times more effective than any similar existing materials and could lead to a potential saving of 1.6m packs of tomatoes and 350,000 packs of avocados every year, the Tesco estimates.

If proved successful, the packaging could be rolled out across 80 percent of the varieties of tomato it sells by Easter of this year.

The device could even be used across a wide range of fruit and vegetables with no added cost to shoppers, according to the retail giant.

Tesco ambient salad and avocado technologist, Steve Deeble, commented: "The packaging is a major breakthrough in the fight to combat food waste and could save the fresh produce industry tens of millions of pounds each year. But it would also mean that shoppers will be able to keep fruit and vegetables for longer without feeling pressured to eat them within days of buying them."

www.tesco.com/greenerliving/greener_tesco

Darrel Moore