Produce industry gets a 'could do better'

The findings were from research carried out by the Food Chain Centre with funding from the Farmer's Fund using the CBI's Probe business diagnostic tool. The mechanism assesses a company's practices and compares them with world-class companies.

All the UK's leading fresh produce suppliers scored well against the Probe database collected from many industries.

But there is room for improvement in involving employees in decision-making, investment in IT, emphasis on manufacturing strategy and collecting a wider range of performance measures.

Those companies involved have since drawn up action plans to address priorities.