Tesco has launched a new low-cost food line in its supermarkets as it gears up to take on discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Tesco has launched a new low-cost food line in its supermarkets as it gears up to take on discounters Aldi and Lidl.

The UK’s largest grocer has this week introduced a line called Market Value that spans fruits and vegetables. The products include bags of cherry tomatoes for 39p, nectarines for 94p, lemons for 59p, kiwis for 65p and tomatoes for 59p.

The Market Value packaging is blue and red and some of the products also have an additional “Discounter Price” tag on them.

Tesco is understood to want to roll out the low-cost line to further categories including frozen food, dairy and health and beauty.

Separately, Tesco has accepted a formal offer of apology from The Guardian following its claim that it avoided paying some corporation tax in the UK. The newspaper accepted the article was wrong and should not have been published and the allegations made were unfounded.

The Guardian said in today’s paper: “Tesco is a very significant taxpayer, having contributed over£1 billion to the public purse for the year to February 2007. We are happy to put the record straight and apologise to Tesco. We have also agreed to pay a sum by way of damages to a charity of Tesco’s choice and a payment by way of costs.”