TESCO is returning to selling food using imperial measurements because consumers simply do not understand metrication.

The supermarket giant said advertising boards hung in stores would feature pounds and ounces only, while product packaging and labels on shelf edges would feature both imperial and metric weights.

Store chiefs acted after a survey of more than 1,000 customers showed nine out of 10 still used pounds and ounces in their heads.

Scales at the stores' fruit and veg and deli counters will feature both and customers will be able to ask for whichever system they prefer, a Tesco spokesman said.

But the company was quick to stress it was not flouting EU regulations which insist metric should take precedence over imperial.

A spokesman said: "The issue is one of prominence. We are still using metrication, but are also featuring imperial because that is what our customers want."

Trading Standards Institute spokesman Tony Allen said Tesco's move was within the new law.

''If the weights are in metric at the till, that is all the law requires,'' he said.