Sales of dark green leaves have overtaken Iceberg at Sainsbury’s as the retailer hails 2016 as the “the year of the salad”.
Baby spinach is now the best-selling bagged salad at the retailer, with sales up by nearly a fifth, closely follwed by wild rocket and mixed salad bags.
Iceberg sales remain steady ensuring its place in the top ten sellers, but growth of darker green options suggests a wider consumer trend for nutrient-rich leaves, Sainsbury's said.
The company also posted an increase in sales of mixed leaf (+92 per cent); watercress (+52 per cent); bistro (+27 per cent); rocket (+20 per cent); sweet leaf mix (+20 per cent); spinach (+19 per cent).
These figures show year-on-year growth over this summer compared to 2015 at Sainsbury's, and is against a backdrop of steady growth within the wider salad segment, up seven per cent year-on-year,.
The retailer said an increase in recipes that include salads and multiple salad flavours has helped drive sales, describing them as “the one-pot of the summer months”.
