21/10/2013

Tesco Publish Its Own Food Wastage Figures

Almost 30,000 tonnes of food was thrown away by Tesco in the first six months of 2013.

The supermarket has published its own food wastage figures for the first time, making public its own findings on food wastage alongside estimates for the wider industry.

In its half year report, available in full on the Tesco website, the supermarket identified five key groups that was most wasted.

It reports that 68% of bagged salad is wasted, with customers throwing away some 35% of the total production waste.

47% of bakery products were wasted, with customers throwing out 25% of the total. It also found that 40% of apples were thrown away, 27% by customers; 24% of grapes were wasted, 17% by customers; and 20% of bananas were wasted, half by customers.

The supermarket announced a number of measures it was introducing in an effort to tackle food wastage, such as ending multi-buy offers on large bags of salad. It will also remove 'display until' dates from fresh fruit and vegetables, replace in store displays with smaller units and rearrange 600 in-store bakeries to reduce the amount of bread on display.

Tesco's commercial director of group food, Matt Simister, said: "Families are wasting an estimated £700 a year and we want to help them keep that money in their pockets, rather than throwing it in the bin."

(MH/CD)

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