This morning Tesco revealed the true extent of the food waste it generated in the last six months, and, while the issue is one that has seemingly rumbled on for years, the numbers were enough to shock even this old hack.

They certainly bear repeating – 68% of its bagged salads are wasted, 47% of its in-store bakery products, 40% of its apples, 24% of its grapes and 20% of its bananas. This and other waste meant that Tesco’s stores and distribution centres generated 28,500 tonnes of food waste in the first six months of the year.

The press has been full of stories in recent weeks of the bumper apple crop, but in light of the Tesco figures, you have to wonder just how much of it will end up in kids’ lunchboxes, crumbles or cider rather than landfill.

Of course the consumer must shoulder some of the blame – we’ve all been guilty of having our eyes light up at the bargains to be had in-store, only to end up holding our noses a couple of weeks later as we scrape what’s left out of the bottom of the fridge.

Hence Tesco’s welcome plan to put a stop to multibuy deals on large packs of bagged salad in favour of “more intelligent” offers on smaller bags. The proof will be in the pudding of course but this sounds like common sense.

Supermarkets should not of course discouraged from offering good deals on healthy food – but deals on healthy food that will never be eaten is helping no one. They need to save the bogofs for toothpaste and shampoo and either offer consistently good value in terms of base pricing on fresh produce, or – when they want to beat their rivals with an eye-catching deal – how about offering them half price?

But it’s not just the deals that promote waste. Many pack formats are also to blame. Retailers keep boasting about how much insight they now have into their shoppers, so how about using some of this to cut out the packs that end up being chucked? Quite simply what is the point of having two 200g bags of iceberg lettuce Sellotaped together?

Tesco says it will also be working on its supply chain to look at other ways of cutting down waste – introducing smaller cases of fruit and veg, working with suppliers to develop products with longer shelf lives, and better ways of transporting produce.

This will arguably be the most difficult part of the problem. We may ultimately be persuaded to buy more ugly fruit and veg, but we won’t be tempted by the bruised and battered offerings that are already turning to mush – and which are still a far too common sight across supermarket shelves.

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