A WOOLWORTHS customer has unleashed on the supermarket giant in a viral social media rant over sweet potatoes.

Leanne Stokan attracted the attention of thousands of Australians when she posted an image of packaged sweet potatoes on the retailer's Facebook page - in a rant that drew comments and likes from more than 65,000 people.

She wrote: Why? Woolworths, we, your customers, don't want this. Our planet doesn't need it. Sweet potatoes can go from your shelf to my trolley to my kitchen without ever needing to touch a plastic bag, let alone a plastic tray as well!

A Woolworths social media representative responded by saying that the plastic packing was "designed to preserve the product throughout the supply chain”, and that the company made efforts "to use our packaging as efficiently as possible”, pointing out that "many of our packaged produce lines are also available in loose format”.

But this did not stop many of commenters from weighing in and criticising the supermarket's explanation as "spin”.

What do you think about this? Here's what you said on Facebook...

Kelly Dawson - "If only they had their own natural packaging - like skin or something...”

Joy Bauer - "Insane this packaging fresh fruit. Creating more rubbish is not the answer to save our planet. Bring back paper bags again. Get rid of the plastic bags and styrofoam. No need for it. So wasteful and stupid.”

Stephen Bird - "War On Waste. Come on Woolworths. You don't recycle, why pass on your rubbish to your customers. Now supporting the local fruit and veg shop and using our own bags as well as getting real fresh produce.”

Tim Oliver - "I bet its because it reduces waste in some way. Maybe our council should introduce soft plastic recycling then the vast majority of our waste will be either organic or recyclable.”

Tenielle Lacey - "I actually don't mind it. I only want to buy a kilo and I know that this is just that. I reuse the containers either for my daughter or in my classroom.”

Annette Rawlings - "It's a way of 'up selling' to customers, pre-packaged versus loose produce... higher sales if no loose produce.”

Gary Barber - "And if I only want one... I have to buy six... I will stick with my decision after you stuffed so many other products and shop at other stores!”