UK supermarket Tesco has made extra room in its stores for a bumper crop of British strawberries, bringing in some 300 tonnes of the juicy fruit.
Courtesy of a sun-drenched spring season, growers were left with more of the berries than planned. Tesco is taking those and putting out 1 kilo boxes for £3. A standard 400g punnet of strawberries at Tesco cost £2 or two for £3.
“The fantastic UK weather and extra sunshine so far this spring has brought on British strawberries faster than expected with many growers seeing production 20 per cent higher than normal for this time of year,” Tesco berry buyer Laura Mitchell said. “And it’s resulted in exceptionally good quality and sweet strawberries with sugar levels boosted by the plants enjoying the longer, sunny days.
“British strawberries have a great reputation for being the best in the world because of our perfect growing conditions and the extra crop we have just bought are classic – sweet, juicy and luscious.”
Tesco, which has been on a mission to ensure that no food safe for human consumption is wasted, learned of the excess fruit and stepped in to assist growers and prevent strawberries from going in the till.
“Tesco is helping the growers move excess crop, saving on food waste and with quality being so good it’s a really great offer for their customers,” said grower Phillip Busby of Busby Partners, Chilcote, Warwickshire, which has supplied Tesco strawberries for more than 25 years.
Tesco says the extra sunshine contributed to bumper strawberries across Britain, in Kent, Essex, Sussex, Hampshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Lancashire, Scotland and Wales.
