📝 usncan Note: Why The Great Avocado Ripeness Dilemma May Be A Thing Of The Past
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Avocado ripeness is notoriously difficult to assess, leading to high waste levels.
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Timing that shortest of all short windows between when an avocado is hard as rock and horribly black and squishy has become one of the millennium’s many small trials in life (for avocado fans at least).
But, it would seem, not any more should a ground-breaking avocado scanner being trialled by the U.K.’s biggest retailer, Tesco, prove to be successful.
The idea of the scanner is that it will help shoppers assess the ripeness of the fruit in stores and cut down on waste at home. By using the scanner, customers can find out if their chosen avocado is best used for slicing into a salad or is ripe enough to be smashed and eaten on toast.
The Tesco stores trialling the scanner will be Cheshunt Extra – an avocado stone’s throw from the retailer’s global headquarters – and Colchester Superstore in Essex, Stratford upon Avon Superstore in Warwickshire, Wokingham Superstore in Berkshire and Salisbury Extra in Wiltshire.
The OneThird Avocado Scanner – named after the Dutch company which invented the technology – can measure the ripeness of an avocado in seconds by using infrared technology to read exactly what the fruit looks like inside.
All shoppers need to do is hold the avocado in front of the scanner and a reading on the scanner then reveals one of two settings, whether the avocado is immediately ready for smashing or whether it is better used to be sliced in a salad.
Avocado food waste levels
Avocados have never been more popular in the U.K. and in the last year the supermarket said that it sold nearly 15 million more avocados than it did in the previous 52 weeks.
And while the scanner may seem to be a solution to a very hashtag 2025 problem, by current estimates the U.K. wastes over 50,000 tons of avocados annually, with the government’s figures suggesting that around 32,000 tons of that waste is avoidable.
Much of this waste is because avocados are such a difficult-to-manage fresh produce item, leading to high rates of household waste and consumer dissatisfaction with quality and shelf life.
The Tesco trial will last a week to assess if it helps customers.
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By best estimates, around a third of all avocados hit the bin uneaten, so the scanner should save hard pressed consumers money and the environment from a lot of food waste. Tesco does indeed have form in this sector, a keen adopter of technology and having introduced frozen avocado to its stores a decade ago.
Avocado Scanner Trials
“The scanner will enable shoppers to choose the avocado that is right for them and which therefore can help them plan their usage and desired shelf life, thereby cutting down on waste,” Tesco avocado buyer Lisa Lawrence said.
“It encourages shoppers to check ripeness without squeezing, helping protect avocados on shelf from damage, reducing waste, and keeping produce fresher in store.”
Tesco has worked with global avocado supplier and experts, Westfalia Fruit, which is based in Spalding, Lincolnshire, on the project.
“The One Third Avocado Scanner is just one of many initiatives we’ve worked on over the past year, from trialling lasered barcodes on Avocados that removes the plastic label from Tesco’s Loose Avocado lines, to rolling out cardboard and paper packaging across all of Tesco’s Avocado Pre-packed lines, saving 20 million pieces of plastic a year,” Westfalia Fruit’s Head of Retail, Tom Kearns said.
