Minister attacks supermarket giveaways

The environment minister has criticised supermarkets over wasteful buy-one, get-one-free deals.

In a Commons debate on Thursday, Joan Ruddock said that consumers should be offered more cut price deals on single goods, rather than free giveaways.

She pointed to figures showing that a third of all food bought in the UK is now thrown away, a practice she blamed in part on retailers' sales strategies.

"We need to start with what we buy, to know how much we need and, dare I say it, not be tempted by buy-one, get-one-free, three-for-two or two-for-ones," Ruddock told MPs.

"When it comes to cutting down on our food waste, this type of sales initiative is deeply unhelpful.

"Let's help the poorer customer, but why not offer the products at half price?"