Stop charging more for fruit and veg sold loose, shops warned
FOOD waste campaigners are calling on supermarkets to stop charging shoppers more for fruit and veg sold loose rather than in plastic packaging.
Shops should sell more produce loose so customers can buy exactly what they need, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) charity says.
The advice comes in a series of recommendations that the group, which advises retailers and the Government, has developed to help cut waste by at least 20 per cent by 2025.
Currently, about one-fifth of food brought into British homes ends up as waste, which amounts to £810 per year for the average family.
This equates to 7.1million tons thrown away – five million tons of which could have been eaten. Wrap has found that many supermarkets are failing to do enough to help customers stop throwing out good food.
Alarmingly, it found that one in five items on shop shelves, such as bread, beef mince, bagged salad and berries, had a stated life of two days or less.
This leads to masses of waste and Wrap argues that ‘investigating ways to ensure consumers have more time to eat what they buy should be a priority’.
The group says shoppers should be able to buy food loose in the amount that suits them and their family, rather than in large packs and quantities which have been determined by the store.
Wrap also wants ‘Best
Before’ labels to be removed from many items so shoppers can decide for themselves whether something is still good to eat raw or as an ingredient in a meal.
It said: ‘Offering fresh produce loose gives customPreviously, ers the opportunity to purchase the correct amount for their needs. Where fresh produce is packaged, the absence of a Best Before date – on some items – can also help to reduce waste by encouraging people to use their judgment more.’ it was taken for granted that fruit and veg sold loose was cheaper than the same item in a plastic bag, carton or tray. However, Wrap said research showed this was no longer the case.
Charging shoppers more for buying food loose flies in the face of efforts to cut plastic waste and pollution.
As a result, the charity said: ‘Wrap’s new guidance recommends loose products to be sold at the same or a lower price than pre-packed.’
Wrap’s director Peter Maddox said: ‘Public concern has grown over plastic packaging, particularly around fresh produce, and we have updated our guide to address single-use, problematic plastics.’ The group also raised concerns that customers buying smaller amounts of other types of food to cut waste were also being penalised. For instance, small 400g packs of bread were found to be an average of 74 per cent more expensive per kilo than standard loaves in most stores.
Wrap is also concerned that shops give too short a period of ‘open life’ for bagged salads, bacon, sausages and ready meals.
The group said stores needed to provide better information on packs about whether items should be kept in the fridge or frozen to extend their useful life.