In response to a campaign by TV chef Jamie Oliver, UK retailer Asda has started selling £3.50 'wonky veg' boxes at 128 of its stores. The low cost boxes make use of 'ugly' vegetables usually thrown out by retailers and are part of a bid by the chain to reduce waste across its stores.
Claiming it is the first supermarket to take this step in an effort to reduce food waste, Asda said the 'wonky veg' boxes will contain enough seasonal vegetables and salad ingredients to feed a family of four for a week.
Ian Harrison, Asda’s technical produce director, said: “Our shoppers absolutely love Wonky Fruit and Veg and we’ve seen sales steadily increase over the last year." He explained that the boxes of ugly vegetables "not only save shoppers money but help farmers get more of their crop onto our shelves."
Right now 15 per cent of potatoes are left with farmers because they do not meet specifications by being too big, too small or blemished, along with 15 per cent of parsnips for being an odd shape. It's a similar case with onions, where 10 per cent of those grown commercially are deemed to be the wrong shape or size, and with carrots - 8 per cent are rejected.
Asda claim that over 340 tonnes of carrots and 300 tonnes of sweet potatoes are now on their shelves which are in perfect condition to eat but would previously have been binned. Asda have done this by reviewing standards around superficially damaged vegetables. "The work we continue to do with our growers to ensure as much of their crop is sold as possible, by flexing specifications, is the golden ticket for farmers," says Harrison.
The Wonky Fruit and Veg trial began in just five stores – Grantham, Coventry, Dagenham, Bedminster (Bristol) and Wallington (Croydon) – at the start of 2015, with Jamie Oliver pioneering the move.
Customer research shows that 65 per cent of Asda customers are open to the idea of wonky veg and 75 per cent are drawn in by the significantly low price.
The launch comes as grocery prices have fallen in an ongoing supermarket price war.
Sources: thisismoney.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk