British fruit growers suffering from supermarket rules

21 October 2002

British fruit growers frequently complain that supermarkets place impossible conditions on the appearance, quality and price of their products. Friends of the Earth sent surveys to 100 apple and pear growers to find out about the difficulties they face in meeting the specifications of the supermarkets for the appearance of their fruit; 38 responded. These show that the demands of the supermarkets are often unreasonable and are leading to wastage of good fruit and to fruit sold at a loss.

Supermarkets say they are keen to support British apples and pears. But the reality is that many growers are going out of business. When supermarkets reject eating apples for cosmetic reasons the grower will often have to sell the fruit for processing at a price well below the cost of production. British growers find it increasingly difficult to compete with cheap imports and they find that supermarkets are not giving much shelf space to home-grown fruit.

Supermarkets like to promote the high quality of the fruit they sell. But Friends of the Earth believe that many of the reasons for rejecting fruit would not be of major concern to most consumers. They include:

• Fruit that has minor skin blemishes
• Apples that are either not red enough or are too red
• Fruit that is too big or too small
• Pears that are the wrong shape.

Friends of the Earth believes that consumers would rather have the choice to buy fruit which comes in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours than see it go to waste. An issue that is of concern to consumers is the presence of pesticides in fruit - Friends of the Earth's survey reveals that additional pesticide sprays have to be used to meet the supermarket's cosmetic requirements.

Key survey findings include:

• Supermarkets reject apples and pears for a variety of reasons which have nothing to do with the eating-quality of the fruit. Examples include colour, non-harmful skin blemishes, shape, size and hail damage.
• One grower had a whole crop of apples rejected by the supermarkets even though the fruit was still good to eat.
• Rejected fruit is likely to go for processing, (resulting in a lower price for the grower) but in many cases it is simply wasted - left on the tree, left on the orchard floor or dumped.
• Even cooking apples get rejected due to cosmetic standards despite the fact that they will normally be peeled.
• Supermarkets go beyond the already strict standards for cosmetic appearance set out by the EU and they buy very little Class II fruit, a standard which allows more flexibility in appearance and size.
• The appearance standards have become more demanding over the last five years, making it harder for growers to comply with them.
• Supermarkets' pre-occupation with appearance is forcing growers to use more pesticides on their fruit.
• Growers find it difficult to compete with the appearance of imported fruit.
• Fruit also gets wasted because supermarkets don't give enough shelf space to British fruit, because they change orders or cancel them at the last minute, and because they de-list traditional varieties of home-grown fruit.
• Some growers say the only way to survive is to find alternative ways of marketing their apples.

Last year the Competition Commission identified 27 practices supermarkets use to deal with their suppliers that worked against the public interest as well as to the detriment of suppliers. The results of this survey add to the weight of evidence that the big supermarkets are getting too powerful.

Friends of the Earth wants the Government to:

• Support local food initiatives in particular to help growers set up direct marketing initiatives.
• Regulate to stop unfair trading practices of the supermarkets.
• Set up an independent watchdog to protect both consumer and producer interests.

"These results show again that supermarkets have too much power over our food. Good British fruit is left on the orchard floor or sent for processing because the supermarkets say its too big, the wrong shape or even too red," said Friends of the Earth Food and Farming Campaigner Sandra Bell. "At the same time the supermarkets are importing apples and pears from around the globe at the expense of British livelihoods and the environment. Unless the Government regulates the way in which supermarkets operate and puts money into developing local food economies our apple and pear growers face an uncertain future."

Get these updates first

If you would like these news updates to be emailed to you as soon as they come out, then join our real food mailing list.
Register Here

News