Although the first English asparagus is already peeping through on the shelves, the bulk of offerings are still coming from much nearer the equator.

And to make the point, Marks & Spencer has added a sticker proclaiming the spears were airfreighted with a 100g tray from Guatemala, priced at two for £3, alongside other arrivals of various grades from Peru and Thailand. I noticed that Kenyan beans, labelled as Young and Extra Fine (200g for £1.69) carried the same message. Plenty of information on the pack is a good thing, but listening to two shoppers at the fixture, one brought up the question of air miles, and the other thought airfreight meant the crop would be fresher. This really serves to underline the point made in the leader column in last week’s issue.

Another point that often causes a debate is what exactly the term “fresh” denotes.

I saw shiitake mushrooms in Sainsbury’s at £1.71 for a 120g pack. But what caught my eye was that they were labelled as “partially dried” to enhance flavour. So can they be deemed fresh? I suppose so. The trade has always worked to a very loose definition - years ago when I was selling dates and the market dried up, they were kept in store and sold fresh the following year.

While on the subject of definitions, how deep or uniform must colouring on an apple be before it is described as a red variety? Certainly those from Washington State have always set the standard, with a block colour that is so intense I’ve seen some going over the grading line which have an almost purple hue.

Nearer home the description can often be called into question. Sainsbury’s has been offering seven excellent, French Ariane in a polybag for £1.49 labelled as “Red Apples”, although in colour terms they are nowhere near a match for their US cousins.

Amongst all the fruit, green vegetables and salads are showing signs of bursting into life with the higher temperatures. I have never considered soya in the fresh produce category before, although it has been plentiful as part of the prepared healthy range. Marks & Spencer has however launched a new pack of edamame beans grown in Thailand for £1.99. And while on the health kick, I was intrigued to see organic purple spouting broccoli in Tesco at £1.99, neatly bundled but sold loose despite the fragility of the spears.

But anything that encourages shoppers to eat more produce is a good thing. Whether Tesco has been motivated by the recent Eat in Colour boost in The Sun and the 5 A DAY campaign, I do not know, but there are some big messages bannered across the department. One reads: “Pick Fruits of Different Colours. The more colours you choose, the more nutrients you get.”

And so say all of us.

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