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Coles to start selling 'ugly' fruit and vegetables at a discount

2019.05.21

Coles shoppers will be able to buy 'ugly' fruit and vegetables at reduced prices as the supermarket giant seeks to reduce its food waste.

The company has announced a new program, "I'm Perfect", where customers will be able to buy bags of select fresh produce for cheaper than the standard price.

The new program is being trialled in Victoria and South Australia.

Products include two-kilogram bags of apples, pears, onions and sweet potatoes, carrots (2.5 kilograms), oranges (three kilograms) and lemons (one kilogram).

Prices seen by The Age indicates that shoppers could save between 10 and 30 per cent on products in the range, however, a Coles spokesman said that there were no hard and fast rules about how big the discounts would be.

Coles says the "I'm Perfect" products will always be cheaper than standard products and when standard products go on sale, the price of their "I'm Perfect" counterparts will also be lowered.

The move catches Coles up to rival supermarket giant Woolworths, who has been selling unattractive produce since late 2014 through their "Odd Bunch" program.

“The I’m Perfect range will introduce our customers to millions of pieces of fruit and veg that they may otherwise never have met," Coles general produce manager Brad Gorman said .

The "I'm Perfect" program trial has no set duration.

 

Products in the range will be wrapped in plastic that can be recycled through the RedCycle soft plastics recycling program.

Coles already uses unattractive produce in own-brand products sold instore, such as coleslaw, bagged salads and baked goods.

“All of these products help reduce food waste and increase overall crop yields by utilising
vegetable pieces that typically would not be sold at retail level,” Mr Gorman said.

The supermarket giant also has a national partnership with food waste charity SecondBite, through which it donates food that would otherwise go to waste to charities. Between 2011 and 2018 it donated the equivalent of 72 million meals.

 

Source From: THE AGE https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/coles-to-start-selling-ugly-fruit-and-vegetables-at-a-discount-20190520-p51peh.html