Waitrose is launching a range of ‘ugly’ fruit this week, making Class II fruit available across its stores.
The seasonal range will include strawberries, tomatoes and gooseberries, as well as year-round rhubarb, plums, pears and pears. They will be marketed for use in cooking and making jam.
The packs cost around 50p to £1 less per kilo than their more attractive counterparts.
“Supermarkets are often criticised for rejecting fruit and vegetables because they don’t look picture perfect,” said Tom Richardson, the fruit buyer at Waitrose. “This range will help customers realise that, while beauty might be skin deep, flavour is not.”
The upmarket supermarket chain says that the range of ‘ugly’ Class II fruit will address concerns about food wastage.
A survey by Friend of the Earth found that some growers were complaining that supermarket specifications were impossible to meet, and this results in a lot of waste.
UK supermarkets go beyond the already strict standards for cosmetic appearance set out by the European Union, according to Friends of the Earth. The environmental organisation also found that standards for the appearance of fruit are getting higher, and this is forcing producers to use more pesticides.
Peter Melchett, policy director for the Soil Association, said: “I think it’s absolutely brilliant, and long overdue.
“Organic farmers who are growing potatoes or carrots can have up to 40 per cent of their crop rejected because of the way it looks. This is a very good step forward indeed.”
