Sainsbury’s shines a light on British tomatoes

Sainsbury’s shines a light on British tomatoes

25 November 2014

Sainsbury's is leading the way on British tomatoes with the biggest range grown through the winter months. It also marks the first major retailer to grow British tomatoes at this time of year using LED lighting technology, the Taste the Difference Vittoria is available in stores now.

This winter exclusive means tomatoes could soon find their place in a traditional Christmas dinner as well as a more popular summer salad. The 100% British range include a new and exclusive yellow cherry tomato – Taste the Difference Sunglow, as well as:

  • Taste the Difference Jubilee – a large vine tomato
  • Taste the Difference Vittoria – a cherry tomato on the vine
  • Best of British mixed colour pack featuring red and yellow cherry tomatoes

Melissa Jones, Sainsbury’s Product Technologist at Sainsbury’s, said: “It’s important we offer British products when they taste their best and we know our customers care about buying British too. This range of tomatoes is another example of growing more of our favourite fruit and veg closer to home. By working closely with our growers we’ve been able to extend the British tomato season – which takes a lot of skill and investment from our growers.”

To grow tomatoes in the cold months in the UK our growers use heated glass houses and artificial light to replicate the summer sunshine. To achieve this they have used a mixture of sodium and LED lights spread amongst the crops to help the plants grow and tomatoes to ripen.

Nigel Bartle, Chairman of the British Tomato Growers Association said: “People enjoy the taste of home-grown British tomatoes throughout the summer, and want to enjoy the same experience in winter. Growers have been working really hard both with researchers and Sainsbury’s to extend the season and this year thanks to LED technology will be able to produce more fresh British tomatoes than ever before."

"This is the first time a large scale commercial nursery has used this technology in the UK. Growers continue to work together to find ways to deliver even more home-grown tomatoes in the future, which is great for British Farming" 

The 100% British lines are Taste the Difference Jubilee, Taste the Difference Vittoria, Taste the Difference Sunglow and Best of British pack.