Tesco Real Food Reveals Biggest and Best English Strawberry Crop in Twenty Years

CHESHUNT, England, June 1, 2011 -

Tesco Real Food has announced that Britain's spring heat wave has led to
the biggest and best quality English strawberry crop for 20 years growers
have reported.

The glut of English strawberries - considered by experts to be the best
in the world - will result in an estimated 50 per cent reduction in UK
retailers bringing in imports.

Experts say that Britain's warmer than usual March and April heat wave
produced perfect growing conditions resulting in the crop being at least two
weeks earlier than usual and the extra sunshine has also increased sugar
levels making the current crop much sweeter and juicier than normal.

Tesco strawberry buyer Paul Jones said: "The unexpected great weather
means an abundance of top quality, sweeter than normal English strawberries
(www.tescorealfood.com/glossary/Strawberries.html) - of the standard
normally associated with Wimbledon fortnight.

"As the quality is so high we've taken far more of the English crop than
we usually do at this time of year.

"From the start of May we will be predominantly selling just English
strawberries and the need not to import Spanish imports allows us to keep the
price down.

"This is fantastic news for the English strawberry industry and should
see them getting an unexpected windfall from increased orders from UK
retailers."

One of England's largest strawberry growers, R and V Emery, which is
based near Southampton, Hampshire, said it was the earliest start to the
English strawberry season for about 20 years.

Vernon Emery, who runs the business with his brother Richard, said: "Our
production yield is up by 150 per cent on recent years and if the good
weather continues and we get some rain too we could be heading for a record
year.

"The extra warmth has helped boost sugar levels but equally important
have been good levels of light which have helped the fruit set and encouraged
bees to pollinate the plants.

"The great weather has also been consistent without dips in temperature
which would have hampered the quality."

Since the start of the English strawberry season Tesco has sold 50 per
cent more home grown strawberries than it did over the same period last year.

About Tesco Real Food (www.tescorealfood.com/):

The Tesco Real Food website is packed with hundreds of healthy recipes
(www.tescorealfood.com/recipes/inspiration/healthy-recipes.html) to
suit any occasion including vegetarian recipes (
www.tescorealfood.com/recipes/ingredient-or-course/vegetarian-recipes.
html) and a recipe for strawberry yoghurt jellies (
www.tescorealfood.com/Recipes/Strawberry-yogurt-jellies.html). Whether
customers are looking for a quick mid-week meal for the family or something
for a special event, visitors are sure to find exactly what they're looking
for. In addition, a range of step-by-step cooking tips and videos to help
improve kitchen skills can be found, as well as healthy eating and cooking
with kids sections. To make shopping even easier, every recipe has a
ready-made shopping list that can be used to add all the ingredients to the
shopping basket in just a few clicks.

    For more information please contact:

    Mike Baess
    Tesco Corporate & Legal Affairs
    New Tesco House
    Delamare Road
    Cheshunt
    Herts
    EN8 9SL
    +44(0)1992-646079

www.tesco.com/food

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