The great Tesco banana dump!

andyrules

I hate the pale yellow, hardly ripe ones. Much prefer them when they are almost too ripe and dark speckled.

CG19a

Bananas only have a 1 day shelf life when they arrive in store, if we are lucky they have 2 days. While there it may seem stupid, if we start to sell them after their stamped shelf life, where does it end? Essentially who are we (ie Tesco Staff in store) to decide when we should extend the shelf life? People wouldn't be happy if we did it with mince or a lasagne, so why would we do it with bananas?

valk_scot

There's a queue of schoolkids outside my Tesco every lunchtime, waiting to go in and buy their lunch. (The manager will only let a set number through the door at once, so as to not overwhelm the shop and tills.) Why not give them all a banana each? Healthy eating AND a way to pacify the hungry kids!
(They could always call it the bananas for needy monkeys" box or something....)

OrkneyStar

Overripe bananas are perfect for smoothies and muffins!
I get my nanas in Lidl these days, I tend to buy a few greener ones and a few yellow ones so they are not all ready at once.
I prefer loose ones though as easier to see there are no nasty insects in the bag!

CG19a

valk_scot wrote: »

There's a queue of schoolkids outside my Tesco every lunchtime, waiting to go in and buy their lunch. (The manager will only let a set number through the door at once, so as to not overwhelm the shop and tills.) Why not give them all a banana each? Healthy eating AND a way to pacify the hungry kids!
(They could always call it the bananas for needy monkeys" box or something....)

This could be a good idea, but we would just get hit with "Tesco giving kids out of date bananas," or people getting angry because we have run out and they want a special offer promise voucher .

Ballymackeonan

The bananas that were being dumped were loose, not bagged, and there was nothing to indicate a use-by date! As it was, I liberated some that were being put aside to be dumped, and quite willingly paid full-price for them. They won't be ripe enough for use until Wednesday at least...

Thanks to previous posters, it looks as if bananas are coming in more green than usual because of the worldwide shortage, but no-one in Tesco has thought to take that into account in setting use-by dates. The absence of ripe bananas in Tesco seems to be a widespread phenomenon, not just the management in my local store making the decision.

I have a contact who runs a charity food shop (for those in N Ireland, it's in Carrickfergus) - they get short dated items, ends of lines where packaging has changed etc from the wholesalers and manufacturers, sell them on cheap to clear, and the proceeds go to Kenya. I've suggested they approach Tesco..

Teahfc

Ballymackeonan wrote: »

The bananas that were being dumped were loose, not bagged, and there was nothing to indicate a use-by date! As it was, I liberated some that were being put aside to be dumped, and quite willingly paid full-price for them. They won't be ripe enough for use until Wednesday at least...

Thanks to previous posters, it looks as if bananas are coming in more green than usual because of the worldwide shortage, but no-one in Tesco has thought to take that into account in setting use-by dates. The absence of ripe bananas in Tesco seems to be a widespread phenomenon, not just the management in my local store making the decision.

I have a contact who runs a charity food shop (for those in N Ireland, it's in Carrickfergus) - they get short dated items, ends of lines where packaging has changed etc from the wholesalers and manufacturers, sell them on cheap to clear, and the proceeds go to Kenya. I've suggested they approach Tesco..

To set up temporary sell by dates would take a week to go through the system !
Sadly the days of a phone call to right this issue has gone :rolleyes:.
The supplier has a colour chart to work to and if they get the product in on minimum spec then they have done the job, the colour chart has maybe 3-4 colour stages so it may be they have a fellow banana arriving intoi the distribution depot and then the next day into store delivery it could already be fiull on colour so 24 sell by is as much as it needs ( i Tesco's eyes) or it could be green with a slight break when it could in fact it could easy get away with a 3 days shelf life even in a 20 degrees shop temprature.

patchwork_cat

That is absolutely bananas! to bin them. Change policy - don't bin perfectly edible food. What about reducing them and putting big sign up about shelf life and letting the consumer choose.

PasturesNew

I tend to buy bananas when they're reduced to 10p for a bunch of 6-8.... they should just reduce them and let people like me feel they've had a great bargain. I rarely buy bananas at full price.

I even got a bagged hand of 8 organic ones a couple of months back for 10p. That's just over 1p for a meal (on the days when I call one banana a meal)

IlonaRN

Surely Tesco is doing its supplies a massive disservice if it is binning all this stock and forcing suppliers to share the losses!

If customers don't buy unripe produce (i.e. green bananas), and Tesco bin the produce before it becomes ripe, they're short-changing their suppliers as well as annoying their customers!