Fogle: Supermarkets are bad apples for wasting fruit

BEN FOGLE has hit out at supermarkets for encouraging farmers to leave apples to rot because they are too big to be sold.

In a video on his Twitter page, the adventurer is seen walking through an orchard in the Malvern Hills, Worcestershire, filled with thousands of apples that he claims are rejected by supermarkets because of their large size. The presenter, 46, believes that the apples are deemed too big to fit in plastic packaging. He is now urging supermarkets to start selling more loose fruit and vegetables to cut down on food waste.

He said in the video: “These apples had been rejected because they were too big. They look perfect. They taste perfect and they are perfect, but the profit margin was deemed too small, because the apples are too big to fit in boxes on the shelves.”

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, the TV presenter said: “I think we have become fantastically wasteful. We have to return to a time where we didn’t buy all our food pre-packaged. Supermarkets insist on specific size and texture and weight – I think this is ludicrous. I don’t think most people care about the look, I think people care about the taste.”

Around a fifth of food brought into UK homes ends up as waste, including £4 billion worth of binned fruit and vegetables.

Although fruit and vegetables have to be sold at a certain weight and size, under UK law there are no requirements for them to be sold in packaging.