Supermarkets vow to embrace ugly fruit and veggies to help farmers

Coles is easing tight restrictions on the appearance of fruit and vegetables to help farmers.

The supermarket giant today announced it is expanding the criteria of the fresh produce it accepts on the basis of colour, shape, size and weight.

"You might see some marks on your mangoes or your lettuces might not be quite as big," spokeswoman Martine Alpins said.

"This is all about ensuring we can take as much product off farmers so that prices can be maintained as much as possible."

At the moment, the changes affect soft fruits and vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, capsicum and tomatoes, but more produce could be added to the list.

About 20 per cent of the fresh produce grown in Australia never makes it to the shelves.

Woolworths has confirmed it is also working with growers to review specifications around fruit and vegetable appearance.

Woolworths' Odd Bunch and Coles' Imperfect ranges are still in stock.