Famous red heads publicly declaring their love for red fruit and giant tomatoes gambling down the corridors of power - it can only have been British Tomato Week.
The annual promotional event saw the campaign stretch across multiple retailers, suppliers and the media to battle an “armada of imports”.
BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans waxed lyrical about the UK tomato crop on his breakfast show while eating Norfolk tomatoes, delivered by Tomato Growers Association (TGA) chairman Nigel Bartle of Cornerways Nursery.
The TGA took its annual trip to Westminster to promote tomatoes with British flags flying and a giant tomato costume on hand.
A TGA spokesperson said: “Apart from ensuring that the MPs have enjoyed a healthy diet and had some fun in the process, that nation’s tomato grower have also been delivering a serious message. They have been fighting hard for years to stay out of the red in the face of an armada of imports swamping the supermarket shelves and supplying 80 per cent of tomatoes now eaten in the UK each year.”
Retail activity took place at The Co-operative and Asda. In the former salad buyer Neil Moorcroft was joined in store by suppliers Capespan and IVG White to present samples to consumers.
In Asda in Cardiff, shoppers sampled Stubbins’ Good Natured Salad baby plum tomatoes grown in the supplier’s Rhymney Valley Nursery.
Moorcroft said: “British Tomato Week provides a great launch pad for the season ahead, as it gives us the perfect platform to increase public awareness and also to demonstrate The Co-operative’s ongoing commitment in offering the widest possible range of UK tomatoes throughout the summer."
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