Tag Archives: Tesco

Re-trial of Tesco executives begins this week

This week sees the re-trial of two former Tesco executives begin at Southwark Crown Court in London after their first trial in February was called off.

Christopher Bush, 52, former managing director of Tesco UK, and John Scouler, 50, former UK food commercial director, are both charged with one count of fraud by abuse of position and one count of false accounting. Both deny the charges.

The case resulted from an overstatement of Tesco’s profit forecast in 2014 which plunged the company into turmoil and led to several senior members of staff being suspended.

According to the legal indictment, Bush and Scouler concealed Tesco’s true financial position from its auditors and other employees between Feb. 1, 2014 and Sept. 23, 2014. Legal representatives for Bush and Scouler declined to comment ahead of the trial.

Photo Caption: Christopher Bush pictured during his time at Tesco.

Photo Credit: Adrian Brooks/Imagewise

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Tesco to scrap Best Before dates

Tesco is to remove ‘Best Before’ dates from almost 70 fresh produce lines as it says they are confusing for customers and lead to perfectly good food being thrown away.

‘Best Before’ dates indicate when a product is at its best and are often used for stock rotation purposes. Beyond this date produce may deteriorate. In contrast ‘Use By’ dates are sued on chilled products to indicate when food may be unsafe to consume.

Tesco head of food waste Mark Little said, “We know some customers may be confused by the difference between ‘Best Before’ and ‘Use By’ dates on food and this can lead to perfectly edible items being thrown away before they need to be discarded. We have made this change to fruit and vegetable packaging as they are among the most wasted foods. Many customers have told us that they assess their fruit and vegetables by the look of the product rather than the ‘Best Before’ date code on the packaging.”

Photo Caption: Tesco is to remove Best Before dates from around 70 fresh produce lines.

Photo Credit: Tesco

The post Tesco to scrap Best Before dates appeared first on Hort News on 23 May 2018.

Tesco free fruit scheme hits 50 million mark

Tesco says that it has now given more than 50 million pieces of free fruit to children in its stores after the idea was first proposed by an employee in its Brigg store in Lincolnshire almost two years ago.

The scheme, which was the brainchild of Maria Simpson, was so well received that the retailer subsequently rolled it out across the country, with some 800 stores now taking part. Maria commented, “Over 50 million, wow! This means that children across the UK have had a healthy and free piece of fruit from Tesco over 50 million times! It’s incredibly humbling for me to know that children are benefiting from this. They love it and the parents love it too.”

Alessandra Bellini, Tesco’s Chief Customer Officer, added, “I’m incredibly proud that a simple idea from one of our colleagues has gone on to have such a big impact. 50 million pieces of free fruit in two years will go a long way towards creating healthy habits that will stay with children as they grow up.”

According to research Tesco and mumsnet, a third of parents said their children have eaten more fruit thanks to the scheme, and three quarters of parents said that the initiative has made their shopping trip easier.

Photo Credit: Tesco

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Tesco expands prepared produce with new lines

Supermarket Tesco has launched several new lines in its range of prepared fresh produce, which the retailer says takes its offer of fresh, healthy ready meals, snacks and side dishes to more than 400.

The latest new lines include the UK’s first ever mushroom burgers as well as beetroot burgers; potato wedges with katsu dip and crunchy quinoa; and fajita mix with peppers and onions. The retailer says such products also help to reduce food waste by utilise fresh produce which is out of specification, for example undersize cauliflowers.

Tesco prepared produce buyer Elizabeth Hall said, “These tempting new fresh fruit and veg foods are not only offering shoppers a far wider choice in healthy, nutritious meals but are also helping tackle food waste through greater crop utilisation. For growing numbers of shoppers the fruit and veg aisle is now the first destination they will head to, to find innovative and delicious new meals if they are pressed for time and looking for fresh food they can cook quickly. These have been so popular that we began to expand the range in order to further help customers who are short on time but still want to experience the joy of cooking fresh food.”

However, according to The Grocer, the retailer has also delisted some of its prepared vegetable lines, including a beetroot & fine bean medley and tandoori vegetable bake.

Photo Credit: Tesco

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Tesco will take surplus cherries from suppliers

Having already helped suppliers sell larger than forecast quantities of strawberries, lettuce and carrots, the retailer is now taking advantage of the bumper crop of British cherries.

“Working with our suppliers we’re able to start the British cherry season two weeks earlier this year than in 2016. The abundance of cherries will be available for customers for an impressive eight weeks,” said Karen Bee, Buying Manager for stone fruit.

“The wonderful weather we’ve experienced across the UK has meant that our British cherry crop has come-on in bigger volumes than we’d forecast. Our supply partners have told us about a crop flush brought on by the bonus British sunshine. They have extra cherries from their growing sites in both Kent ‘the Garden of England’ and Herefordshire. We’ve worked with them to take their extra crop.”

So far Tesco has bought an extra 80 tonnes a week of British cherries, with larger 1 kg boxes available for £4.00. The retailer also said it aimed to have promotions on all different packs sizes to suit a variety of budgets.

Photo Credit: Tesco

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Tesco accepts ‘wonky’ iceberg from G’s

As the UK iceberg lettuce season begins in earnest, after a welcome early start following challenging conditions in Spain, Tesco has agreed to sell a number of smaller lettuce heads under its Perfectly Imperfect range.

The lettuces, which will be sold on the basis of ‘once it’s gone, it’s gone,’ have been supplied by G’s Fresh. “It’s a flush that’s been created by the changeable weather we’ve had over the past six weeks or so,” explained Anthony Gardiner, G’s Marketing Director. “The recent frosts increased the volume of small heads because of the slow-down in growth.”

“We’ve worked with G’s for years and are in constant conversation about how to deliver the best produce to customers,” Tesco’s chilled salads buying manager Georgina Reid said.

“They know we try to accommodate different specifications, where possible, for our Perfectly Imperfect range. In this instance the product is just as good as our regular iceberg lettuce, but it’s smaller. The farmer benefits from not having to plough the lettuce back into the field, food waste is prevented and customers get a bumper bonus deal.”

Photo Caption: The cold weather has also reduced demand for lettuce, adding to the surplus.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

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Organic carrot farmer tackles Tesco over photo

According to the BBC, organic farmer Martin Godfrey has lobbied Tesco to remove a photograph of him after revealing he had never supplied the supermarket.

The picture, which was used online and in the supermarket’s magazines to promote what the company is doing on food waste, was taken around 10 years ago when Mr Godfrey worked at Shillingford Organics and acquired as a stock image by an agency.

Tesco has removed the image and offered to donate £1,000 to a local charity. Mr Godfrey, who is a campaigner for the Land Workers’ Alliance called the use of the photograph a “marketing blunder,” but praised the retailer for highlighting the issue of food waste.

A Tesco spokesperson said, “We work tirelessly to support farmers and suppliers and we are sorry for any upset that has been caused.”

Photo Credit: Tesco

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Tesco increases frozen lines to reduce food waste

Tesco has introduced a new range of frozen prepared produce of four items which it says are on-trend but tricky to prepare. These include pomegranate, watermelon, coconut and beetroot.

The retailer helps that the move will reduce waste by allowing consumers to use only what they need and keep the rest in the freezer. In the last year demand for bags of ready prepared frozen fruit slices at Tesco has soared by 35 per cent. The supermarket’s frozen smoothie range, which includes veg and fruit mixes, has seen a nearly 100 per cent increase in sales in the last 12 months.

Tesco frozen food buyer Marianne Aitken commented, “Our new frozen range is a delicious and hassle free way to help assemble that eye-catching dish.” All of the new frozen products come in easy to use re-sealable packs. The beetroot and coconut are already diced while the watermelon is in chunks and the pomegranate is seeded.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons.

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‘Earliest ever’ English strawberries for Tesco

Lancashire will be the first area of the UK to harvest strawberries this year after family run Medlar Fruit Farms has managed to produce an early crop of Driscoll’s Lusa which is expected to be on sale in selected stores from today (28 February).

Tesco believes it will be one of the earliest ever arrivals for Britain’s favourite home-grown fruit, having been helped by a mild winter and the recent warmer temperatures. The greenhouse crop from Medlar will be supplemented next week by the first production from Herefordshire-based S&A Produce.

Tesco’s strawberry buyer Henry Maulik said, “This brilliant but rare opportunity for customers to enjoy English strawberries so early in the year, is great news for shoppers. Helped by the recent warmer temperatures, this is the first time in ages that UK strawberries grown for supermarkets have been picked in February.”

Medlar managing director Steve Bell added, “We’re pleased to have been able to put Lancashire well and truly on the map for strawberries. The Driscoll’s Lusa variety is hugely popular with customers because of their fantastic flavour. We’ve been working with Tesco to extend the British season, so that shoppers can enjoy them for even longer.”

Medlar Fruit Farms expects to produce strawberries right through until the end of the season in November.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons

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Tesco introduces apples to yoghurt in latest waste effort

Tesco has partnered with leading organic dairy, Yeo Valley, and Adam Wakeley, the UK’s largest organic fruit grower to create an exclusive new Apple and Custard Left-Yeovers yogurt which helps to tackle food waste. The yogurt uses visually imperfect, but great tasting apples, to create the seasonal flavour.

The Left-Yeovers range, which has been championed by Tesco in recent months, helps to prevent food waste by using surplus fruit from the Yeo Valley storerooms, and also raises money for a very important cause, with 10p from every pot sold donated to food redistribution charity, FareShare. Previous Left-Yeovers flavours have included Strawberry & Fig, Plum & Custard and Banoffee, and have raised £20,000 for FareShare so far.

Adrian Carne Joint Managing Director of Yeo Valley commented, “Our Apples and Custard yogurt is made with organic Santana fruit grown in Gloucester. The juicy apples are blended with a creamy custard yogurt made in our Somerset dairy.”

Photo Credit: Tesco

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