Tesco in the UK is to remove ‘best before’ labels off more than 100 additional pre-packaged fruits and vegetables in an ‘effort to discourage consumers from ‘binning perfectly edible food.’
The company’s UK division said taking best before information off labels was encouraging customers to make their own decisions about the freshness of produce based on what it looks, smells and tastes like, reports the Irish Times.
Reuse Own Plastic
On the 28 September Britain's biggest retailer, announced its plans to encourage shoppers to recycle plastic bottles, and to retrial in-store recycling machines which pay customers for every bottle returned.
Since last week (3 October) Tesco said that customers can now reuse their own plastic containers when they buy meat, cheese or fish from deli and fish counters in British stores.
The group, which has committed to making all its packaging fully recyclable or compostable by 2025, also called on the government to introduce a consistent nationwide approach to recycling.
Ireland’s Leading Supermarket
Research shows that Tesco is currently Ireland's leading grocer – capturing 22.1% of grocery spend, up from the 21.9% it achieved in the same period last year.
Share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, published last month for the 12 weeks ending 9 September 2018 indicated that shoppers are heading to Tesco more frequently than a year ago, meaning average customer spend has jumped by €10 to €401 within that time period.
According to the Irish Times, while the move has been welcomed by food waste campaigners in the UK there are no indications it will be replicated in the Republic in the short term.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
