Tesco joins fruit and veg scheme
Tesco joins fruit and veg scheme
SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has finally joined all the countrys other leading retailers as a member of the NFU-industry quality assurance scheme for fruit and vegetables.
The firm had previously refused to join because it preferred to continue with its own quality assurance, Natures Choice. Farmers and the other retailers were keen for the industry to have a single assurance scheme and have welcomed Tescos decision.
Peter Fry, Tescos fresh produce trading director, hoped that by joining the partnership costs would be saved and that industry could move to one set of standards for product assurance and environmental practice. Natures Choice as a product brand would continue, he added.
Mark Tinsely, chairman of the NFU/retailer partnership, said he was delighted by Tescos decision. "Working together we can even more clearly express the whole industrys commitment to safe and environmentally-friendly production methods, and give even greater impetus to the continuing development of integrated crop management."