The EU has paved the way for the use of iron oxides and hydroxides on the skin of fruit, chemicals which make any laser markings much clearer to the human eye.

The “tattoos” could even feature QR codes, digital barcodes that consumers scan with their smartphones, embedded into a banana or melon for consumers to find out more about the product.

Retailers will welcome the technology as a way of keeping track of produce without having to rely on packaging and information from suppliers, though consumers may be sceptical at first about chewing their way through an embedded logo of their favoured supermarket.

Jaime Sanfelix, MD of Laser Food, which has campaigned to have a ban on the use of the chemicals lifted since 2009, told The Grocer magazine: “Consumers will have absolute certainty the product they are buying is fully guaranteed,” adding the lifting of the ban would stop fruit being sold “anonymously” from cartons.

The laser tattoos could also make environmental savings as the amount of paper, plastic and glue used in labels and packaging declined.

A Sainsbury’s spokesman told the Telegraph: “We proudly have robust systems in place to trace the provenance of our fruit and vegetables. We are always looking for new ways to improve our customers’ experience which includes looking at the benefits of technology such as this to make shopping easier.”

A spokesman for supermarket giant Tesco said the firm was not considering the technology for their own fruit and vegetables.

The EU legislation comes into force on June 23.