Tesco is introducing its first range of ready-to-eat vertically farmed salads to UK shoppers, now available in selected UK supermarkets.
The new Unbeleafable range of salads, which includes sweet crisp green leaves, rocket and baby leaves, and mixed baby leaves with both red lettuce and green lettuce, is grown at the GrowUp vertical farm in Pepperness, Kent.
Vertical farming is a system where crops are grown in vertically stacked layers and aims to optimise plant growth with a controlled environment. At the GrowUp farm pesticides are not used, and unlike conventional supermarket salads the leaves don’t need to be washed chlorine in order to make them ready to eat.
The Pepperness farm has been producing the product since February, and uses 100% biodegradable energy – it estimates that it will use 94% less water than ready-to-eat salads grown in a field or greenhouse.
Government data shows that every year the UK imports around 67% of eaten salads, with this rising to over 90% in the winter.
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“We are committed to giving our customers the greatest choice of fresh produce, at affordable prices. We know that bagged salads are incredibly popular, not only in the summer months but all year round,” said Tesco category buying manager for horticulture and prepared produce Alex Edwards.
GrowUp Farms founder Kate Hofman, who spoke at Rishi Sunak’s Farm to Fork summit earlier this year, said: “At GrowUp Farms, we’ve been growing unbelievably good leaves for over a decade. At Pepperness, our latest farm, we’re producing ready-to-eat salads for major UK supermarkets, demonstrating the commercial viability of vertical farming and its role in sustainable UK food production.”
“When people taste our salad, they tell us they didn’t know lettuce could taste this good or last all week! That’s not a surprise when our research shows that 98% of shoppers said they throw away bagged salad. What a waste! We’re incredibly proud that Unbeleafable can help consumers reduce food waste,” she continued.
She added that she hopes the product will “shake up” the bagged salad category and with Tesco’s backing aims to encourage a more “sustainable” and “resilient” UK farming system.
