A leading retailer has launched a range of wonky British apples to help growers sell apples superficially damaged by unusual frosts which occurred earlier this year.
Millions of apples have been affected by adverse weather conditions which have left a brown ring known as “frost eye” around the some of the UK’s most popular fruit.
Unusually low temperatures, which dropped to -4C at the end of April in parts of Britain, caused some apples to feature slight blemishes to their skins only with no effect on eating quality.
The cold weather not only damages the fruit, but also reduces the quantity that a tree can produce.
To help farmers, Morrisons will be selling blemished apples as part of its wonky veg pledge, meaning affected British growers will be now able use perfectly fine apples that might have otherwise not have been eaten.
Morrisons wonky range, launched in 2015, helps the supermarket’s farmers sell fruit and veg that are misshapen, blemished, very large or very small.
The range now includes cabbage, cauliflower, courgettes, peppers, swede, apples, pears, sprouts, asparagus and leeks.
It follows news that strawberries and lettuce crops worth £30 million ended up as waste in the UK in 2015, with pest and disease damage being one of the causes.
And according to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) committee, supermarkets should relax rules they have on rejecting 'wonky' fruit and veg for sale in efforts to reduce this waste.
Morrisons apple buyer, Mark Booth, said: “We want to see good fruit eaten. Whenever bad weather damages fruit we’ll work with our growers to help them make the most of their crops. Our wonky apples might be a little ugly, but they will taste great.”
Morrisons now sells more than 500 tonnes of wonky veg to 500,000 customers every week.
