A new range of cold-pressed juices, using wonky fruit and vegetables that may otherwise have been discarded, has exclusively launched by Tesco.
Aimed at tackling food waste, the Waste NOT range uses surplus apples, beetroot, strawberries and watermelon that would otherwise fall outside produce specifications.
According to the retailer, the new range could save around 3.5 tonnes of surplus/waste fruit and vegetables within the first 12 weeks of going on sale.
The range features the following drinks:
- Orange, Carrot and Apple
- Orange, Beetroot and Apple
- Apple, Watermelon, Strawberry, Cucumber and Mint
- Orange, Apple, Celery and Spinach
Waste NOT juices are competitively priced at only £1.50 per 250ml bottle.
Jo Batty, Tesco prepared fruit buyer explained:
“These delicious juices are the latest way that we are helping tackle food waste by ensuring as much of the crop as possible gets used.
The fruit and vegetables being used in the range falls outside the specifications for fresh produce and although they might not be flawless to look at they still offer shoppers a great taste. This is the juicing way of giving these imperfect fruit and vegetables a second chance!”
All of the fruit and vegetables in the drinks will be cold-pressed – which involves squeezing the juice in small batches instead of heat pasteurising it.
Putting the juice under high pressure in this way maintains the freshness of the product.
The Waste NOT range, which has been created by two of Tesco’s major produce suppliers, G’s and AMC, will be sold in about 350 Tesco stores across the UK.
Mike Bullock of Waste NOT added:
“Around 50 per cent of celery is discarded in the UK, before it even gets past the farm gate, beetroot deemed too large or small is rejected.
It’s the same with oranges that are ‘ugly’ on the outside but still beautiful and juicy on the inside. What a waste! We couldn’t sit by and watch all this healthy produce be put in the bin.
The solution was literally staring us in the face and Waste NOT is our way of using what’s beautiful on the inside (where it matters) and sharing what tastes good, feels good and is doing good. It’s our way of helping the planet.”
The drinks, which will be sold in bottles made from 30 per cent recycled plastic, will sit in the fresh produce aisle.
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