The supermarket has said that the challenge will be back for the fourth consecutive year and will run until 10 October. It sets customers three personalised portion tasks based on previous shopping habits, which enables them to earn 1,000 bonus Nectar points once the tasks have been completed.

The products that count towards points can be fresh, tinned, frozen or dried. Any customer that wishes to join the seven-week challenge can do so at any time via the Nectar app.

Once the bonus points have been earned customers can spend them in a wide range of partner retail outlets including Sainsbury’s, Argos, Esso and eBay.

Also its possible to convert Nectar Points to Avios to put towards British Airways flights.

Last year, 88 million portions of fruit and vegetables were bought throughout the challenge, Sainsbury’s said. Participating customers were buying three times more fruit and vegetables than those who did not take part, contributing to reaching that five-a-day target.

Good diet important for customers

Alex Lovell, head of loyalty marketing at Sainsbury’s, said: “We know how important it is for our customers to eat a varied and healthy diet, and that’s why we’re bringing back the Great fruit & veg challenge for yet another year. The challenge is a great incentive for our customers to purchase more of the fruit and vegetables they love and to add some more variety to their shopping baskets.

“Last year, we saw over 580,000 customers take part and a whopping 106 million bonus points awarded. Now in its fourth year, and with even more points up for grabs, we hope customers will enjoy this year’s challenge.”