Tesco has told customers: "Avocado fans will notice some dramatic changes when they pick up one of Britain’s most popular salad items at Tesco."
The supermarket will be removing the barcode on Tesco's extra large avocados and swapping it for a bold laser etching.
The swap aims to "help the environment" and cut back on plastic use. It has not been made a permanent fixture though: the laser etchings will just be a trial.
If rolled out across all stores, the move, made jointly with the UK’s main avocado supplier, Westfalia Fruit, based in Spalding, Lincolnshire, could save nearly a million plastic stickers on its loose extra large avocados.
Tesco explained: "The high-powered lasers remove a minute section of the top layer of avocado skin, etching size information on the fruit as directed by a computer program.
"In a third of a second the process essentially leaves a tattoo that shows information for customers and cashiers, including the size or variety of the fruit."
At the same time, Tesco has announced it will trial replacing the plastic tray packaging for two of its most popular avocado lines and moving to a cardboard container that is simpler to recycle.
If rolled out Tesco-wide, more than 20 million pieces of plastic tray packaging could be saved from the twin-pack avocado alone, and up to 25 million pieces across the pre-packed range.
