Tesco 'seeking alternatives' after some fruit items not suitable for vegans

Fruit is vegan, right? Nope, wrong.

It turns out not all fruit is vegan and supermarket retailer Tesco has found this fact out the hard way.

The retailer has said it's looking into 'alternatives' after its oranges were found to be unsuitable for vegans due to having post-harvest beeswax applied to the peels during the production process.

According to the NHS, a vegan diet is "based on plants (such as vegetables, grains, nuts and fruits) and foods made from plants. Vegans do not eat foods that come from animals, including dairy products and eggs."

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While beeswax might seem harmless, it's technically a byproduct from an animal/insect and for that reason it means Tesco's citrus oranges are a no-go for vegans.

The supermarket giant has now said that it is looking for alternatives to the wax and for some of its other fruit as this can contain shellac; a resin secreted by the female lac bug.

According to Retail Gazette, Tesco is working with suppliers to come up with an alternative to ensure it has a vegan fruit offering in future.

Ladbible has contacted Tesco for further comment.

In the meantime, those following a vegan diet have been urged to look at buying organic fruit due to food of this type not being treated for preservation.

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Earlier this year, Tesco landed itself in hot water for making bold claims about its plant-based range, with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruling that an advert from Tesco claiming that swapping from meat burgers to its Plant Chef burgers can 'make a difference' or be 'even better for the planet' was actually 'misleading'.

It added that Tesco did not have 'sufficient evidence to substantiate' the environmental claims it made, and the advert was pulled as a result.

In response, Tesco said the claims were "not, nor were they meant to be, absolute environmental claims, as they did not claim that the products were wholly sustainable or good for the planet."

Last month, Tesco also caught the attention of social media after it was revealed that cheese alongside other items was now protected by plastic security tags in some of its stores.

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In a video shared on TikTok, one shopper couldn't get over seeing packets of Cathedral City in locked and sealed containers usually reserved for higher value goods.

Some of social media thought the video was a sorry state of affairs, as it showed how intense the cost of living crisis had become in the UK.

The original poster shared the clip alongside the caption: "When the cost of living goes up… #tesco."

LADbible contacted Tesco for an answer, although the supermarket giant was unable to comment due to the fact that the video doesn't state at which branch the footage was taken.