Tesco Ireland has confirmed with its supplier Moore Produce in North County Dublin, that it has diverted 10 tons of sweetheart cabbage from waste. This was done by temporarily changing the specification, to accommodate the changes in the crop.
This year’s cabbage crop has seen changes to traditional growth patterns due to the more extreme weather conditions over recent months, such as the diversion from waste in the past 2 weeks for over 20,000 cabbage plants, which is equivalent of about 10,000 kg. This in turn, means it concerns nearly 2,600 cases of green cabbage and sweetheart cabbage.
“The drought experienced in summertime has had a knock on impact on crop growth in the winter months," said Alison O’Doherty, senior produce buying manager, Tesco Ireland. "Working with Moore Produce we were able to accommodate a temporary specification to give the producers time to harvest their crops.”
Over the past two weeks working with Total Produce and the Moore family, the company has reportedly been able to maintain the seasonal crop with a very small specification change and avoiding a situation in which the crop would be ploughed back into the ground
“This supports the supplier, but it is also an important consideration for Tesco, because in 2017 we set ourselves clear targets to ensure that no good food that is suitable for human consumption will go to waste from our stores by 2020”, concluded O’Doherty.
Pointed, hispi, hearted or sweetheart cabbage as it is sometimes known is a type of green cabbage with green leaves and a pointed head.
