An eagle-eyed schoolboy has forced Tesco to change the wording on its fruit juice cartons – after spotting a grammatical error while eating his breakfast.
Bright spark Albert Gifford, 15, noticed that Tesco Pure Orange juice claims to use the “most tastiest” fruit – a double superlative.
Later that day he fired off a letter to the supermarket giant to point out the error and suggested they change the wording to ‘tastiest’ or ‘most tasty’ instead.
And to his surprise Tesco has now written back agreeing to change the text.
Delighted Albert said: “My dad used to write letters to people and I was hoping to get vouchers for orange juice but I didn’t.
“The reply from Tesco was fairly short but they said the team checks everything and they would change it when the packaging is reprinted.
“I was happy to have a letter back but a little bit disappointed because it didn’t say more and I didn’t get any vouchers but I’m pleased with the result.”
Albert, who is studying GCSEs at Whitstone School in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, spotted the mistake while eating his Weetabix earlier this month.
The wording on the £1 carton of own-brand orange juice read: “Only the best quality fruit makes the grade for our juices. We squeeze or press it only when it’s perfectly ripe and at its most tastiest.”
He marched down to his local branch of Tesco with the intention of confronting the management – but instead decided to buy some stamps and write to head office.
Albert also wrote to his local newspaper, the Wells Journal, to describe his disbelief.
He wrote: “I am writing concerning an issue I have had with the very popular supermarket chain, Tesco.
“There is a grammatical error on one of their products, and this has affected me greatly.
“I woke up on Thursday morning a few weeks ago, thinking it would be like any other. I sat down at the table for breakfast like normal, and picked up the Tesco orange juice.
“It was then that I noticed it said “most tastiest” when describing the fruit on the side of the carton.
“Of course, this could be either “most tasty” or simply “tastiest” but to say “most tastiest” is just wrong. I was so astonished by this error (especially as Tesco is such a large company) that I almost started pouring the orange juice on to my Weetabix.
“My mum stopped me just in time, and shared my shock when I showed her the side of the carton.”
Albert later discovered that the same error is published on the side of all 1-litre own brand Tesco juice cartons.
But after an anxious week the Year 11 student received a reply from customer services at Tesco agreeing to correct the error.
The letter read: “I’m sorry that there’s a grammatical error on our Tesco Pure Smooth Orange Juice packaging.
“Our design team checks all packaging very carefully before it’s used on any of our products, and we carry out regular reviews, but apparently we overlooked this mistake. I’ve told our team about this and they will correct the error when the packaging is reprinted.”
Albert has applied to study A Levels in human biology, chemistry, maths and psychology at Strode College in Street, Somerset, next year and wants to read medicine at university.
