Tesco has vowed to cease its practice of consigning old and misshapen fruit to the dustbin by flogging it at specially discounted rates in order to cut down waste.

The move would see ‘old, ugly and misshapen’ fruit reprieved on specially discounted shelving in a bid to convince shoppers not to turn their noses up at produce which is perfectly fine to eat.

Tesco’s food sourcing director, Matt Simister, said that customers ‘always pick the cream of the crop’, passing over blemished carrots and bruised apples for glossier counterparts.

It follows an admission by the supermarket giant that it is a huge contributor to food waste in Britain with 68 per cent of its bagged salads ending up in the bin rather than someone’s stomach. That compares with 48 per cent of bakery products and 24 per cent of grapes.

Fresh fruit faces a similarly high attrition rate with two in five apples and a fifth of bananas simply left to rot away.

To combat the problem the supermarket chain has already scrapped ‘display until’ dates on fresh fruit and veg which were found to confuse shoppers and has also ended its practice of offering ‘buy one, get one free deals on salads.