Sometimes, this industry is just too damn proficient for its own good.

The staggering, and quite frankly obscene, statistics in the front-page story about food waste are testament to the strides you have taken to meet consumer demand for 12-month availability of durable fruit and vegetables.

Unfortunately, the fact that 4.4 million apples are being thrown away each day, along with millions of units across other fresh produce categories, is not the greatest example of efficiency, whoever is at fault.

It may not be the industry that discards the produce, and some would say that as long as that fruit has been sold, the trade’s job is done. But every piece that sits uneaten in a fruit bowl, waiting for the fickle fingers of the spoilt 21st century consumer to throw it in the dustbin, is deterring them from going out to buy more.

Adrian Barlow of English Apples & Pears became the latest victim of the national press’s extraordinary ability to quote out of context, when The Times had him suggesting “people should buy apples in smaller quantities”. The article failed to add what Barlow would undoubtedly have said; that if they did so, they may also buy fresh product more often.

He’s spot on. By over-selling to shift volume, there is a danger that this industry is distorting the consumption picture, as well as limiting its future growth potential. And assigning yet another piece of its image to the waste bin.