U.K. supermarket chain ASDA is trialing a traffic light system to advise consumers when avocados are ready to eat, in a bid to reduce the wastage of away overripe fruit.

Ready-to-eat avocados are packed in green boxes, orange boxes are used for those that are nearly ripe, and pink boxes are for fruit that requires a little more time.

ASDA's avocado buyer Damien Gray, said the idea should give consumers a clearer picture about when the fruit was right for consumption.

"We're the first supermarket to do this and from initial customer feedback, we think we’re onto a winner as avocado ripeness is one of our shoppers’ top bug bears.

"This simple system will simplify what has traditionally been a complicated product to purchase at the ripeness you require."

The supermarket is piloting the trial this month in 30 selected shops throughout the U.K. with a national roll out planned later in the year.

ASDA quoted research showing one in five people find it hard to tell how ripe an avocado is. U.K. shoppers throw away 1 million metric tonnes of fresh fruit each year, accounting for 13% of the country's total food waste.

The supermarket added that using boxes rather than plastic wrapping would reduce the amount of waste packaging going to landfill sites.

www.freshfruitportal.com