Designed to reduce food waste, the novel tool has been developed in partnership with Westfalia Fruit to help shoppers choose the perfect avocado for their needs.
This week Tesco is trialling what it describes as a “ground-breaking” avocado scanner to help shoppers assess the ripeness of the fruit in stores and cut down on waste at home.
By using the scanner customers can determine if their chosen avocado is best used for slicing into a salad or is ripe enough to be smashed and eaten on toast.
The Tesco stores trialling the scanner will be Cheshunt Extra and Colchester Superstore in Essex, Stratford upon Avon Superstore in Warwickshire, Wokingham Superstore in Berkshire, and Salisbury Extra in Wiltshire, the retailer confirmed in a press release.
Known as The One Third Avocado Scanner – named after the Dutch company which invented it – the tool can measure the ripeness of an avocado in seconds. It works by using a tiny x-ray which can read exactly what the fruit looks like inside.
Tesco avocado buyer Lisa Lawrence explained: “The scanner will enable shoppers to choose the avocado that is right for them and which therefore can help them plan their usage and desired shelf life, thereby cutting down on waste.
“It encourages shoppers to check ripeness without squeezing, helping protect avocados on shelf from damage, reducing waste, and keeping produce fresher in store,” Lawrence added.
Developed in Partnership with Westfalia Fruit
To bring the projection to fruition, Tesco worked with global avocado supply specialist Westfalia Fruit, based in Spalding, Lincolnshire.
Westfalia Fruit’s Head of Retail, Tom Kearns, commented: “Launching the One Third Avocado Scanner with Tesco is an exciting innovation that not only aligns with long-term sustainability goals but also enhances the shoppers’ experience – helping customers choose the perfect avocado ripeness for their needs, whether that’s ready to slice or smash.”
The One Third Avocado Scanner is among many of the initiatives that Westfalia Fruit has collaborated with Tesco over the past year.
These include trialing lasered barcodes on avocados which removes the plastic label from Tesco’s loose avocado lines, and rolling out cardboard and paper packaging across all of Tesco’s avocado pre-packed lines, saving 20 million pieces of plastic a year.
Avocados Remain Hugely Popular
Avocados have never been more popular and in the last year Tesco sold nearly 15 million more avocados than it did during the previous 52 weeks.
In recent years, there has also been a major trend for people eating smashed avocado on sourdough as either a breakfast treat or daytime snack.
According to Tesco, smashed avocado on sourdough continues to be one of the trendiest snacks at the moment, with recipes ideas garnering millions of views on social media sites.
As such, the retailer believes the scanner will be popular with shoppers.
All shoppers need to do is hold the avocado in front of the scanner and a reading on the scanner then reveals one of two settings – if the avocado is immediately ready for smashing or whether it is better used to be sliced in a salad.
