Asda is to sell 1lb punnets of strawberries for the first time in more than 10 years to gauge shopper demand ahead of a potential roll-out of imperial measurements to other fruit & veg.

Asda will trial the punnets ­ which will display both imperial and metric ­ from Monday.

The move follows consumer research that indicated 70% of its shoppers were confused by metric and would prefer products to be labelled in pounds. Some 20% said they took longer to shop because they spent time translating metric into imperial.

"No one wants to order a litre of beer in the pub, so why do we have to buy 453.39g of strawberries!" said Asda strawberry buyer Andy Jackson.

Consumers had the right to see both types of measurement on their groceries, added John Gardner, director at the British Weights and Measures Association.

By law, all packs have to display metric, but imperial can be used as a "supplementary indication", following the extension of the UK¹s derogation from EU laws on weights and measures in 2007. 

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