Asda has started selling boxes of ‘wonky’ vegetables in 128 of its stores. The move comes amid growing pressure on the supermarkets to cut waste in the food supply chain with thousands of tons of imperfect fruit and veg thrown away each year after failing to meet retailer’s exacting standards.

Asda began trialling the sale of so-called wonky veg at the beginning of last year after celebrity chef Jamie Oliver challenged the supermarket group to encourage its customers to buy produce with “knobbles and blemishes”. The new veg boxes build on this trial and offer shoppers a selection seasonal vegetables and salad ingredients to feed a family of four for a week for just £3.50. 

Customer research from Asda showed 65% of their customers are open to the idea of wonky veg and 75% are drawn in by the significantly lower price. Ian Harrison, Asda’s technical produce director, said: “Our shoppers absolutely love Wonky Fruit and Veg and we’ve seen sales steadily increase over the last year." He added that the new boxes of wonky veg "not only save shoppers money but help farmers get more of their crop onto our shelves." 

Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco are also experimenting with imperfect veg, relaxing appearance rules and adding them into their value ranges.