Tesco is trialling avocado ripeness scanners and fans of the fruit are divided over whether its a shopping hack or a squeeze test should suffice.

Avocado toast has become synonymous with the millenial generation but it relies on the main ingredient being soft enough for smashing.

Shoppers at five Tesco stores in England can scan their avocados to find out how ripe they are. Tom Allingham, money expert at Save the Student, says it’s “only fair” people know what they’re paying for.

But James Herring CEO at brand consultancy Taylor Herring thinks it’s a tech gimmick and giving an avocado “a quick squeeze” works just as well.

“Britain’s supermarkets are locked in a never-ending battle for attention and spend, so every day brings a new gimmick,” he says.

“Tesco’s avocado scanner has done its job: it’s sparked chatter about food waste and burnished the brand’s innovation credentials,” Mr Herring added.

Adding: “Sure, you could put 100% of the marketing budget into store upgrades or slightly faster checkouts, but those fixes don’t grab the headlines or make for good TikTok content.”

Tesco’s avocado buyer Lisa Lawrence says social media had played a part in predicting the popularity of the tech’s soft-launch.

“Smashed avocado on sourdough continues to be one of the trendiest snacks at the moment, garnering millions of views on social media sites for recipe ideas, so we think, for that reason, the scanner will be really popular with shoppers,” she said.

Tesco says this year it has sold almost 15 million more avocados than it did in the previous 52 weeks.

“The scanner will enable shoppers to choose the avocado that is right for them and which therefore can help them plan their usage and desired shelf life,” says Ms Lawrence.

The avocado scanners are in the fruit aisles in Cheshunt Extra and Colchester Superstore in Essex, Stratford upon Avon Superstore in Warwickshire, Wokingham Superstore in Berkshire and Salisbury Extra in Wiltshire.

This is the latest tech update from the supermarket since its trial of giant trolley scales at a store in Gateshead led to some shoppers comparing it to airport security.

Georgia Rose, a senior consultant at Kantar, thinks the avocado scanners will take off.

“Assurance around quality and value play an important role in influencing what we buy, so innovations like these need trialling to assess both how effective they are at reducing waste and how they impact customer satisfaction, before any broader rollout,” she said.

Mr Allingham from save the Student said he didn’t buy into “the myth that young people buy too many avocados” and said he hoped the cost of the machines would not push prices up for customers.

“Given the rising cost of food and the enduring cost of living crisis for students…if that’s the trade-off, then cheaper food is clearly the preference,” he says.