Supermarket Tesco is trialling new packaging that will keep food fresh for longer.
Produced by It’s Fresh Ltd, the packaging contains a strip that absorbs ethylene, which causes fruit to ripen and then go mouldy.
Tesco estimates that 1.6 million packs of tomatoes and 350,000 packs of avocados could be saved from going to waste each year as a result of this new packaging.
The supermarket said there would be no added cost to shoppers for packaging that should be 100 times more effective than any similar existing materials.
Tesco ambient salad and avocado technologist Steve Deeble told The Guardian: “The packaging is a major breakthrough in the fight to combat food waste and could save the fresh produce industry tends of millions of pounds each year. But it would also mean that shoppers will be able to keep fruit and vegetables for longer without feeling pressured to eat them within days of buying them.”
