SUPERMARKET shoppers can now buy knobbly and wonky shaped fruit and vegetables.

Asda is bringing its Jamie Oliver-inspired ‘Wonky Veg’ Boxes to Bolton, Bury and Trafford as part of a permanent roll-out.

The £3.50 ‘Wonky Veg Box’ launched today — a new family sized box that includes nine in-season misshaped winter vegetable lines.

The chain has committed to making the selection box of ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables a permanent fixture and is committing to putting 10,000 boxes in to 550 stores, at least once a month.

They are available at Asda stores including Burnden Park and Horwich, Radcliffe, Pilsworth and Trafford Park.

Ian Harrison, Asda’s produce quality director, said: “We’ve been absolutely overwhelmed by the response to our wonky vegetable box and think it shows just how conscious our customers are of food waste, particularly in the produce aisle.

“We knew from our initial research that customers aren’t phased by the odd knobble here or a bruise there, but including this ‘ugly’ veg in a mixed box format has helped customers save even more money and plan meals for the family for the whole week, ensuring nothing is thrown away, even when it’s taken out of the supermarket aisle.

“We’re extremely excited to be able to bring the wonky veg box to even more people across the UK and in turn, further support our growers to ensure we’re buying as much of their crop as possible.”

It follows the resounding success of last week’s small trial at a handful of Asda stores in the South of England.

The initiative has also been championed during the latest series of Channel 4’s Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast, with the foodie stars challenging Asda to extend its wonky fruit and vegetable range even further, which led to the new development.

Each box includes 5kg of fresh produce which is enough to feed a family of four for a working week and costs just £3.50 — 30% cheaper than standard lines.

The contents of the wonky fruit and vegetable box will vary dependant on the season but customers can expect to see things such as carrots, potatoes, peppers, cucumber, cabbage, leeks, parsnips and onions, to name a few.

The positive reaction from customers means four times the amount of wonky produce will be sold in more than four times the amount of stores originally planned.

This latest extension of the initiative by Asda alone will result in at least 500 tonnes of ‘waste’ fruit and vegetables being taken from farmers and sold in the supermarket by the end of 2016.

How wonky is wonky when it comes to fruit and veg?

The ‘wonkiness’ element of the veg changes by product.

Currently, 15% of potatoes do not meet specifications because they’re too big, too small or blemished and 15% of parsnips don’t make the shelf because they’re odd shaped or have superficial defects.

Similarly, 10% of onions that are the wrong shape and size and 8% of carrots grown with knobbles and bobbles are left with growers.

These are the types of products that will be seen in the Wonky Veg box, meaning more crop is taken from growers.

In addition to the wonky veg box, Asda has also been consistently reviewing its standards around size, shape and cosmetic standards, focusing on reviewing specifications across all fruit and vegetables to ensure even more product ends up on shelves.

The retailer has already announced that 340 more tonnes of carrots and 300 more tonnes of sweet potatoes have been sold on shelf as a result of this initiative, but revised requirements around tomatoes, grapes, citrus and white potatoes now mean that a further 3,000 tonnes of fresh produce will be sold on shelves this year alone.