I have come to the conclusion this week that the range of information displayed on packaging - beyond the legal requirements -can range from the simplistic to the over-informative, and even become downright confusing.

A case in point is Sugarloaf pineapples under the Blue Skies organic label, carrying the logos for the Soil Association ethical trade standard and the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development, along with a potted explanation of the product.

Certainly the Sugarloaf, with its thin conical shape and green skin - heralded as an indication of the fruit’s freshness - is in a class of its own compared to golden fruit with bushy crowns, and that is only the visual appreciation of the product. Apparently, the crop, originally grown on small plots in the central region of Ghana by the Fante people, is now being produced commercially and is competing for sales, it would appear, on the same basis as Fairtrade. As a further sign of progress, shoppers can now meet the farmer by logging on to

www.caretrace.com

At the other end of the scale, I came across a banana pack in Spar where the Costa Rican fruit was merely referred to as “standard” - although a trip around any retail store produced a range of various sizes which were often much larger, with the exception of packs for children.

Meanwhile, at Morrisons, red and white grapes in those very clever zip bags bore no details at all - the information was all on the shelf barker.

On the salad front, there always seems to be something happening, possibly in this instance because of the low light levels on northern European glasshouse crops at the moment. I would have normally expected to see salad tomatoes from the UK or the Netherlands, but again Tesco has broken the mould by citing Poland as a source. Historically, the country has been associated with blueberries, onions, mushrooms and, for those with longer memories, apples.

This brings me neatly to a conversation I overheard while in a supermarket in the West Country, where a holidaymaker was extolling the taste of the Jazz apples she usually buys at the same chain in the Home Counties - but was disappointed that she could not repeat the purchase in this store. After much discussion with her family, she reached the conclusion that the lack of supply was due to the fact that dessert apples were grown in Kent, while apples from the part of the world she was in were turned into cider!

At a nearby farm shop, holidaymakers could not get enough of locally pulled carrots covered in dirt, claiming they tasted much better. It reminded me of my times in old Covent Garden, when dirty roots often made a premium, so maybe the idea might be catching on again.

One of the fruits that cannot have fared too well this summer must have been watermelons, which really need a rise in temperature to get sales moving. However, are times changing? There was once a time when the fruit was often almost too large to carry home, which gave rise, I suppose, to those wrapped portions. But this year, I have seen far more evidence of mini varieties, more in keeping with the length of the summer.

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