Asda has launched a new 700g strawberry punnet to help shift a 30 per cent increase in yields caused by warm temperatures in May.
The move was designed to avoid wasting surplus berries, Asda said, and will see an additional 700 tonnes bought by the retailer.
It comes as last week Tesco said it would buy 500 additional tonnes of strawberries to cope with a similar glut among its growers.
Asda’s new 700g punnet will be sold for £2.50, alongside its existing 300g pack.
Senior strawberry buyer Barrie Jones said: “The mild weather in May means we’ve the growers we work with have had to harvest much of our strawberry crop a lot earlier than expected.
“We initially thought there would be a mountain of strawberries on the farm leftover which supermarkets couldn’t sell, so it’s great that we’ve been able to work with our growers to come up with a solution to tackle the results of the Great British weather.”
Charlie Mills, Asda fresh produce manager, said: “We’re continuing our investment into working closely with our growers to ensure we’re reducing food waste as we battle the increasing number of good fruit and veg thrown away each year.”
