Roleystone fruit grower Peter Casotti has been forced to dump 30,000 kilograms of nectarines because he says that retail giant Coles chose to stock supermarket shelves with imported eastern states-grown stone fruit rather than local produce.
"It is a shame that a WA-based retail giant ignores a fresh product that can be placed on shelves within 24 hours," said Casotti. "Instead, they choose to stock an imported product that has been harvested up to a week or two before, is transported to WA on trucks for days and then transported again through distribution centres."
Coles refuted the claim with a spokesman saying 85 per cent of stone fruit sold by Coles in WA this year was locally grown.
"We are working with our suppliers to increase the proportion even further," he said.
"Seasonal timing and quality were the main drivers behind the importation of fruit from the eastern states. We were finding quality issues at our distribution centre and received a number of complaints from customers about fruit from some WA suppliers," he said.
"Currently there are gaps in our WA supply due to crop timings, and while these gaps are being filled by new varieties, the trees require a few years to grow before they can produce a full crop."
The Coles spokesman said the company was also working to establish a new facility in WA with modern technology to manage the packing of fruit for many local growers.
