Woolworths is supporting Australian growers and helping customers save money on a healthy basket with Chopped Spinach being added to the supermarket's popular Odd Bunch range.
The launch of the range will allow Australian spinach growers to harvest more of their crop and reduce food waste, while also making it easier and more affordable for customers to add more vegetables to their diet.
Created in partnership with salad and vegetable supplier One Harvest, out-of-spec or unused spinach is now carefully washed, trimmed, and packaged into The Odd Bunch Chopped Spinach range, and available to purchase in Woolworths supermarkets across the country.
Colm Farrell, Woolworths Fruit and Vegetable Category Manager, said: “As the Fresh Food People, reducing food waste is a huge priority for us, and our partnership with One Harvest continues to innovate the supply chain from farm to fork.
“Our Odd Bunch range combines sustainability with great value that benefits both Australian farmers and our customers. The range allows growers to sell more of their crop, while Australian families can enjoy more affordable fresh produce. Shoppers can save up to 40% by choosing Odd Bunch products that taste just as great as the fruit and veg you see across the rest of our range.”
Austin Lenord, a grower of spinach at Koala Farmssaid said: “As a fast-growing crop, spinach leaves can often become too large and outgrow its product specification. At this point, it is still delicious, nutritious, and fit for consumption, but does not make it to the supermarket shelf.
“The idea of the Odd Bunch is extremely beneficial to the grower. The oversized product, which has no different nutritional value will minimize the wastage of fertilizers and water on farms making the process more sustainable.”
While trialing the new Odd Bunch Spinach, One Harvest discovered that chopping the spinach allows a reduction in a bag volume equivalent to 20% less plastic compared to conventional whole spinach leaf
salad bags.
Consumer demand saw spinach sales reach double-digit growth last winter, defying the usual trend of seasonal salad decline throughout the colder months of the year. Woolworths launched The Odd Bunch in 2014 with the aim of saving near-perfect fruit and veggies from being wasted.
Since the brand launched, over 204,000 tonnes of The Odd Bunch fruit and veg have been sold that would otherwise have gone to landfills, which has helped farmers sell more of their crop. The Odd Bunch Chopped Spinach is now available in most Woolworths Supermarkets across Australia.
For more information:
Will Lehnertz
Woolworths Food Group
Tel: +61 428 502 728
Email: wlehnertz@woolworths.com.au
www.woolworths.com.au