Supermarkets are 'rigging prices of fruit and vegetables to fool shoppers into thinking they are getting a bargain'

Supermarkets have been accused of rigging the price of fruit and vegetables to fool shoppers that they are getting a bargain.

Industry insiders claim that Tesco has inflated the cost of some of its most popular produce to make subsequent price cuts appear more generous.

The claims come as the big four supermarkets squabble in the crucial pre-Christmas trading period about who is cheapest.

Tesco's low-price claims are heavily linked to a promotional campaign which promises 50 per cent off five fruit or vegetable ranges every week.

However, this is not all it seems.

The price of loose white grapes was raised on November 19 from £3.98 per kilo to £4.99 - a rise of £1.01 or 25 per cent.

Two weeks later - on Monday - the price went back down by £1 a kilo to £3.99.

Tesco launched promotions in its stores and on the internet announcing that it had cut the price of the white grapes by £1 per kilo.

A similar tactic appears to have been used with the staple of the Christmas dinner, Brussels sprouts.

Tesco held the retail price for 500g of sprouts at £1 despite the fact that an increase in farm supplies allowed its rivals

to charge between 50p and 79p. But this week, it cut the cost to 50p per 500g in a "half-price" Christmas promotion.

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Industry analysts claim the supermarket was able to make the half-price claim only because the original figure of £1 was inflated.

In another example, Tesco raised the price of an 800g pack of Jaffa Clementines, a Christmas favourite, from £1.99 to £2.99 for the first week in October.

Since then it has been running a half-price offer at £1.49 per pack.

Earlier this year, Tesco used a similar tactic with plums, nectarines, peaches and apples.

A supermarket industry insider said: "This looks like a deliberate attempt to make price savings seem better than they are. It is known in the trade as 'price establishing'."

Trading standards chiefs say the food stores appear to be taking advantage of a loophole in consumer protection laws.

Furniture, carpet, kitchen and electrical shops can advertise a discount only if the item has been on sale at a higher figure for 28 continuous days.

However there is an exemption for produce such as fruit and vegetables.

Here the discount needs only to relate to the last advertised price - rather than a 28-day period.

So food stores can hike the price of a product for just a few days before bringing it back down and making extravagant claims of savings.

The ploy identified at Tesco is believed to have been adopted by all the major supermarkets.

However it is very difficult to identify other examples without the evidence of whistleblowers or the manpower to spend many hours monitoring price changes.

The chairman of the Trading Standards Institute, Bryan Lewin, said: "On the face of it, there is danger that people will be misled into thinking they are getting a bargain when they're not.

"The code as it stands does not cover perishable produce. However, trading standards officers take the view that firms should abide by both the letter and the spirit of the law."

He said the implementation of an EU directive on unfair commercial practices, which is due to come into effect next year, might be used to police supermarket price claims.

Tesco insisted changes to the price of its fruit and vegetables reflect their availability.

However, a spokesman said the company would remove the claim of the £1 price cut on white grapes after taking a fresh look at what happened.

He stressed that the price movements on sprouts were driven by changes in the wholesale cost.