Easter may still be a month away, but it is already being promoted heavily in most major supermarkets. Fresh produce is competing with chocolate Easter bunnies and the ever-widening range of confectionery that the product development managers and their promotional teams can conjure up.

With fruit and vegetables under pressure, it is not surprising that there are more and more offers. Even some of the less frequently consumed tropicals have got in on the act, using combinations of fruit.

Tesco, for example, is offering ripe and ready papaya (£1.48 each) and pomelos (£1.49 each) at any two for £2.50. Soft fruit and grapes are being strung together with a two for £3 tag, covering 400g of Spanish strawberries, 150g of Mexican blackberries and 500g of red and green grapes from Chile within the consumer deal.

There are also other ways to attract attention, and Sainsbury’s has hit upon supporting Comic Relief for Red Nose Day. A penny from each seven-fruit pack of Taste the Difference Dutch vine-ripened tomatoes sold has been donated to the charity from January until today.

But at the same time, despite any discussions over carbon footprints, sourcing is not getting any closer to home. Sweetcorn is coming from Senegal, while New Zealand apricots fill the gap.

Closer to home, Fresher for Longer lamb’s lettuce has arrived from France, at 79p for 60g. This product is a clear example of patience being a virtue, for when the crop grown around Nantes was first introduced to UK buyers some years ago, growers were even prepared to offer free product just to get it on the shelf. Now it is a regular part of the baby leaf selection.

There are also old favourites about. Sainsbury’s is selling clearly labelled Blood oranges. When Outspan did some consumer research in the 1980s, it turned out that the terminology put consumers off the fruit. They were promptly re-christened the Ruby orange. In both cases, then and now, the source was not the traditional Spanish crop, but Tarocco from Italy, still sold in nets - today priced at £2.49 for four. One improvement, however, is that there is a note on the label stating that flesh pigmentation may be variable.

New ideas to keep fresh-cut produce moving, which like organics seems to be coming under pressure because of the recession, still keep emerging. Marks & Spencer has taken an intriguing step by indentifying varieties. One of its stonefruit medleys (£2.99 for 220g) stresses that it includes Flavor King plums.

And as a footnote, following the fresh-cut fruit and fresh salad sectors, which are becoming increasingly integrated with delicatessen and convenience foods, another dimension has been added within the potato trade. Consumers can already buy ready prepared mash and various sizes of bakers, complete with fillings, but one of the more recent arrivals in Sainsbury’s is 500g of washed Israeli Maris Peer easy-steam new potatoes in a smart new bag, which can also be microwaved.

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