The UK's Obsession with Plastic Wrapped Fresh Produce

I am currently on a short holiday in the UK and today I went into a well known supermarket wanting some salad ingredients and a few bits and bobs to see me through.  Once in the shop something quickly struck me.  Practically all the fresh produce was wrapped in plastic.  Where was all the loose produce?  In France much more is available loose and the bags you use to put it in are made from corn not plastic and are biodegradable.  Or, maybe you are like me and you take your own reusable produce bags.

I wandered around hoping to find loose products somewhere else but I failed.  So this is what I bought ...

• Tomatoes - is a plastic tray wrapped in plastic
• Cucumber - plastic wrapped
• Lettuces - in a plastic bag
• Apples and bananas - in plastic bags
• Red pepper - loose!!

Practically ALL the fresh produce was plastic wrapped including swedes, cauliflower, broccoli, leeks etc etc.  The only colour of loose pepper available was red and all the others were wrapped in packs of 3.  Thank goodness I could get 1 loose red pepper as I didn't want or need 3.  In fact I really only wanted one lettuce but had to get 2 and I would have preferred 8 apples but they came in packs of 6 so I only got one pack.   I could have had some loose parsnips and some larger fruits such as melons and pineapples, had I wanted them, and bizarrely most of the citrus fruit was still loose.  But lose produce was definitely only a small percentage of what was on offer.  The vast majority of all fruit and veg in this supermarket was plastic wrapped, whether it needed to be or not.

Looking around, I despaired at all this unnecessary packaging that will no doubt all end up in landfill, but I saw people merrily adding all these plastic wrapped items to their baskets.  Had they brain brainwashed into believing this is the right way to buy fresh produce?  Did they even notice and or care?  I don't know but at the checkout I overheard this conversation between the cashier and lady ahead of me.

Cashier - "do you need any bags?"
   Customer - "no thank you, I have some but could I have a bag for this top."
Cashier  - "that will be 5p please"
   Customer - "oh well don't bother then - are all your bags 5p?"
Cashier  - "yes - you only get them free when you use them for fresh produce" *
   Customer - "what a pity you have to pay for them"
Cashier - "I know, it is, isn't it?"

*Well that won't be often, then, I thought!

Having to spend out 5p on a plastic bag, that in this case the customer didn't even need, is working as a deterrent but the message about WHY we need to cut back on plastic has not got through, either with the public or with supermarket bosses.  Ironically, the UK may have seen single use plastic carrier bag use dramatically decline since the 5p levy has been applied but in the same time frame the use of plastic bags and packaging to wrap fresh produce has greatly increased.  This is totally unnecessary and completely unsustainable. 

Is this supermarket typical or can you easily get your produce free from plastic in the UK?
Does your fresh produce generally come plastic wrapped or have you found ways to avoid all this single use plastic?