Australia-Spermarket giant goes on the defensive.

AUSTRALIA-SUPERMARKET GIANT GOES ON THE DEFENSE.

THE boss of Woolworths’ fresh foods division, Michael Batycki, says there is a misconception that the supermarket giant rejects "an awful lot" of its fruit and vegetable deliveries.

"Rejections of fresh fruit and vegetables are a small part of our business, about 1 per cent of deliveries," Mr Batycki said.

"There is a misconception out there that we reject so much product, and that perception in the main seems to come from people who don’t deal with us directly," he said.

Another furphy was that Woolies and its fierce rival, Coles, exercised a virtual duopoly in sales of fresh produce such as fruit, vegetables, beef and lamb.

Roy Morgan Research data told a different story, Mr Batycki said, with Woolies holding a 27 per cent share of fresh fruit and vegetable sales and Coles 20pc.

"We are in a minority and have to compete strongly in the marketplace. The independent sector in Australia is very strong and they do a wonderful job," he said.

New Roy Morgan research shows butchers sold more serves of beef and lamb than any other retailer in Australia in 2008.

Butchers finished the year with a 30.8pc market share of beef and veal and a 31.6pc share of lamb, just ahead of Woolies with 29..1pc and 29.8pc of beef and lamb respectively.

All rejected produce, which is stored in a chiller, has to be picked up by suppliers in-line with Woolies’ policy of openness and transparency.

Mr Batycki said suppliers were fully aware of the company’s specifications which, in many cases, had been written by its growers and adopted by other sections of the industry.

He said Woolies had strong and long-term relationships with most of its local grower suppliers, and sourced about 95 per cent of its 20 million kilograms of weekly fresh produce sales ($2 billion a year) from them.