Vertical farm launches new salad product in Tesco

Unbeleafable, the award-winning, longer lasting salad brand from vertical farm GrowUp, is introducing a new ready-to-eat, bagged salad product to its range of home-grown salads that it launched last summer in Tesco stores across the UK.

Unbeleafable zesty baby leaves will feature sorrel, an aromatic citrusy leaf as part of a baby leaf mix of sweet and crispy green baby lettuce leaves and mild and earthy red baby lettuce leaves. It will be the only bagged salad available in the UK that provides the unique mix of sorrel leaves and green and red baby lettuce leaves.

Like the other bagged salads in the Unbeleafable collection, zesty baby leaves are fresh, crisp and will last longer than any other bagged salads in the supermarkets as they are grown in a controlled environment at GrowUp’s vertical farm in Kent. The leaves are grown without the need for pesticides or chlorine washing, all processes that degrade the quality of the leaves.

Kate Hofman, founder of GrowUp, said: “We taste tested a few different varieties of leaves and the sorrel leaf was overwhelmingly popular because of its tangy, citrusy flavours, which really pack a powerful, flavoursome punch.

“With the Unbeleafable range, we pride ourselves on having created ready-to-eat salads that taste better, are fresher and crisper, and last longer than any other prepped salad. The zesty leaves will be the only bagged salad on the market with such a unique mix of zingy sorrel, sweet green and earthy red lettuce leaves, which add a burst of colour.

“Our zesty leaves product is another chapter in our story of bringing better tasting food that is also good for the planet to the nation’s plates. Just in time for the start of the barbecue season and a summer of sport too!”

Tesco salad buyer Emily Hampson said: “We are always looking to work with innovative companies to bring new products to our customers, and have been working with Unbeleafable as part of our Accelerator Programme. We think customers will enjoy the taste of their zesty baby leaves, which will be available in the salad aisles of selected Tesco stores.”

The Unbeleafable collection was the first range of salads to be launched by a vertical farm in the UK. The salads are grown, harvested and packed all year round at the Kent vertical farm, powered by 100% renewable energy, using electricity and low-grade heat from the bioenergy plant next door. The farm is currently expanding and when it reaches its full potential, everything produced on site will be grown using 94% less water than conventionally produced bagged salads.

Currently, the UK relies on importing 67% of the salad that Brits eat each year, and over 90% in the winter (British Retail Consortium). By creating Unbeleafable, GrowUp is playing a key role in ensuring that salad leaves are grown in the UK all year round.

The fact that the leaves in the Unbeleafable salad range are naturally longer lasting solves the big problem of the food waste linked to bagged salads, as research conducted by Unbeleafable (survey conducted by Attest into shopping habits and consumer attitudes on 12 July 2023 with 1,000 respondents) found that 98% of consumers say they throw away bagged salad, with 39% saying they do this most or all the time.

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