Posted: 2024-05-21 09:33:10

Woolworths boss Brad Banducci has defended the amount of food the supermarket giant rejects with a top executive saying no one wants a banana that is "too big", a South Australian parliamentary inquiry has heard.

The state select committee investigating grocery prices is one of several inquiries currently underway across the country, including one being led by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Committee chair Robert Simms grilled Mr Banducci and Woolworths chief commercial officer Paul Harker on Tuesday about food waste, mark-ups from suppliers and increasing prices amid cost-of-living pressures.

Mr Banducci denied the company engaged in food dumping, saying its reject rate is about "1 to 1.5 per cent".

"We reject very little when it comes into our business, that doesn't mean that it's not rejected before it gets to our business if you know what I mean, I think there's an opportunity there," Mr Banducci said.

"I think we already acknowledge that food waste at farm and actually at home are the two big opportunities."

Mr Banducci said rejected produce is redirected to families in need and farmers but took a question on notice regarding how much each of those groups received.

Mr Harker said product standards are primarily driven by eating quality and its longevity.

A man holding pointing his index fingers about 30 centimetre width apart.

Paul Harker gives evidence in SA Parliament's select committee into grocery pricing in the state.(ABC News)

"No one wants unripe strawberries or capsicums with mouldy centres and the like," Mr Harker said.

"There are some aesthetic, there's a banana that can be too big.

"A lot of people who eat bananas are children and younger people who don't want something that's around this big," Mr Harker said as he gestured about 30 centimetres with his hands.

"They want something that's reasonable to consume in a sitting as opposed to it contributing to food waste at home by only being able to eat half of it."

Mr Simms said the community would be "astounded" to hear a giant retailer discarding fruit simply because it's too large.

"I'm not sure that most people in the community would agree that a large piece of fruit represents a safety risk, but I'd let others be the judge," Mr Simms said.

The outgoing Woolworths CEO did not support price regulation but said the supermarket giant has offered more product choices to customers as well as being overt on unit prices for better "transparency and clarity".

"Regulation of 28,000 products that change dynamically every week would be an incredibly hard thing to imagine how you would do it," Mr Banducci said.

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