Tesco has increased the number of bogof deals it runs on dairy products by almost a third despite a pledge to cut down on such deals to tackle food waste.

According to Assosia, the chain has run 404 bogof deals across the chilled dairy category over the past 12 months compared with 309 such deals in 2009.

The surge in dairy bogofs comes after Tesco last year announced it would introduce bogofl buy one, get one free later as a means of running multibuy deals without adding to the growing food waste problem. Multibuy promotions on fresh foods have been criticised by environmental campaigners for encouraging shoppers to stock up on perishable items they might not be able to use up before the expiry date.

CEO Terry Leahy told the SCI conference last year that bogofl would allow shoppers to "get that other salad or veg or yoghurt when they want it and when it will be used, not all together when it may in the end go to waste."

One year on, yoghurts and fromage frais have seen a massive increase in bogof deals in Tesco, rising from 68 in 2009 to 138 in 2010, while bogofl deals have yet to be introduced on more than a trial basis. The number of bogof deals has also gone up in cheese (from 130 to 139), butters & fats (35 to 45) and flavoured milk & milkshakes (12 to 41), but there are now fewer such deals on yoghurt drinks (16 to 6) and dairy desserts (48 to 25).

Although fresh dairy bogofs have increased, Tesco has cut the number it runs overall from 2,266 to 2,000. Bogofs were also down in Sainsbury's (1,794 to 1,290) and Morrisons (1,873 to 1,412). Asda stopped using all bogof deals last year.

According to Assosia, most yoghurt and fromage frais bogofs in Tesco were on Müller lines, with 53 deals, followed by Yoplait (28), Danone (26) and Nestlé (23). WeightWatchers was the only brand on bogof less often, with the number of deals down from 11 to eight. Tesco had not ­commented as The Grocer went to press.