Marks & Spencer has been criticised for selling ready-peeled garlic cloves in small plastic pots.
The supermarket chain was accused of using "unnecessary" packaging by a customer on Twitter.
Sharing a photo of the new product, one user branded it a "stupid move", in a tweet to the retailer's official account.
"Garlic bulbs are nature's packaging no need for unnecessary extra plastic wouldn't you think?" the customer wrote.
The supermarket replied: "Our peeled garlic clove pot was introduced in response to customer demand for convenient, pre-prepared scratch-cook ingredients.
"The pot is widely recyclable and has a resealable clip lid for maximum freshness and means it can easily be reused.
"I'm sorry we've let you down with this."
Its response included a commitment to pass on the customer's comments to its food team.
It has been reported that the £1 plastic tubs, made in Belgium, contain garlic cloves shipped from China 10,000 miles away.
Louise Edge, of Greenpeace UK, told the Mail on Sunday that the food miles and "excessive" packaging for the product were "staggering".
"Garlic can be grown in the UK and is clearly something which should be sold loose," she added.
"It's nonsensical to import garlic from China, then package it in a throwaway tub from Belgium, which could end up polluting our oceans for hundreds of years or be incinerated."
The supermarket told the Mail on Sunday that it worked with a UK supplier which sources garlic from China at scale for use across the food industry.
