Pioneering UK vertical farm, GrowUp Farms, has launched Unbeleafable®, the primary vary of ready-to-eat salads grown in a vertical farm to be bought in a serious UK grocery store. Three merchandise from the vary will likely be accessible in chosen Tesco shops from 26 July*.
The Unbeleafable vary of salads is grown at GrowUp Farms’ vertical farm, Pepperness, in Kent. The farm creates the right rising circumstances for salad leaves. Unbeleafable salads are grown with out pesticides and in contrast to conventionally produced salads, don’t must be washed in chlorine to make them able to eat. Unbeleafable leaves are tastier and keep more energizing for longer than different ready-to-eat bagged salads bought in UK supermarkets.
Analysis performed by Unbeleafable discovered that 98% of shoppers say they throw away bagged salad**. Unbeleafable salads keep more energizing for longer, so they’re much less more likely to be thrown away. It’s higher for the surroundings and higher worth for consumers.
Unbeleafable is a step in the direction of growing the resilience of the UK’s meals system. The UK imports 67% of salads eaten annually and over 90% within the winter***. UK grocery store cabinets have been left naked earlier this 12 months as provide chains struggled with demand and supermarkets launched momentary rationing. Unbeleafable salads are grown, harvested and packed year-round within the UK at GrowUp’s Kent vertical farm, Pepperness.
Pepperness has been producing ready-to-eat salads for UK retail and wholesale clients since February. The farm makes use of 100% renewable power from the bioenergy plant subsequent door and as soon as full, will use 94% much less water than ready-to-eat salads grown in a subject or greenhouse.
Kate Hofman, founding father of GrowUp Farms, who was the one vertical farming business consultant to attend Rishi Sunak’s Farm to Fork Summit earlier this 12 months, says: “At GrowUp Farms, we’ve been rising unbelievably good leaves for over a decade. At Pepperness, our newest farm, we’re producing ready-to-eat salads for main UK supermarkets, demonstrating the industrial viability of vertical farming and its function in sustainable UK meals manufacturing.
“When folks style our salad, they inform us they didn’t know lettuce may style this good or final all week! That’s not a shock when our analysis exhibits that 98% of consumers stated they throw away bagged salad. What a waste! We’re extremely proud that Unbeleafable may help shoppers scale back meals waste.
“Unsurprisingly, nearly all of consumers (61%) say the factor that bothers them most about bagged salad is that the leaves don’t final lengthy sufficient. This is the reason we’re so excited to launch our Unbeleafable salads – they’re crisp and scrumptious, they usually keep more energizing in y’fridge! Unbeleafable gives shoppers a spread of tasty salads – from gentle to robust – which have the freshest, crispest, longer-lasting leaves within the UK.
“Unbeleafable and its longer-lasting leaves are right here to shake up the bagged salad class. We’re thrilled to be working with Tesco to get salads from our vertical farm onto the plates of extra British shoppers. It’s nice that Tesco is backing our sustainable strategy to farming to make the UK extra self-sufficient and to construct a extra resilient meals and farming system” provides Hofman.
Alex Edwards, class shopping for supervisor for horticulture and ready produce for Tesco, stated: “We’re dedicated to giving our clients the best selection of contemporary produce, at reasonably priced costs. We all know that bagged salads are extremely in style, not solely in the summertime months however all 12 months spherical. So we’re very excited to offer Tesco consumers Unbeleafable, an progressive new vary of branded bagged salads that stays contemporary for longer and is grown sustainably, which is one thing we all know our clients are more and more keen about.”
**Survey performed by Attest into procuring habits and client attitudes on 12 July 2023 with 1,000 respondents.
*** DEFRA Horticultural Statistics (2022)
Supply: Retail Instances
