Whistleblowing

wearingamask

Not sure if this is the right place but I'm looking for some advice please.

I work for a large supermarket on a delicatessen counter. All products have a 'life' on the counter, usually a number of days after opening within which we have to sell the product before it must be disposed of.

I have witnessed on many occasions these dates being changed on products that should be disposed of. I have also been asked myself by other staff/management to change these dates. I have made it clear a number of times that I will not do it and am not happy selling these products to customers. There have even been incidents of products found passed their display by date (on the manufacturer packaging) being rewrapped and a new (false) date added.

Obviously I am extremely unhappy to know this is going on and I know of other staff members who are unhappy about it. I have mostly witnessed this being done by the dept manager and the supervisor so I cannot approach them about it(although I have made it clear to them I disagree with this practice) and the manager as far as I know is quite friendly with duty managers in the store.

I know I need to let someone know but I don't know who to tell. I only work part time and don't want the people involved to be 'tipped off' by the person I tell and for it to just cease happening when I am around.

I hope this all makes sense and sorry to ramble but have found it difficult to explain in writing! Hope someone can help.

Newbiesw

I'm guessing the first question on everyone's mind is "Which Supermarket?"
A Conscience versus a Job ? - tricky situation but it wouldn't surprise me what goes on in some of the places & restuarants/take-aways etc.
I can only think that if you feel REALLY strongly about it, maybe a similar Post to a local newspaper?
You may be doing us all a favour too particularly if we use that Supermarket ?

Newbiesw

floss2

I would suggest that you look in your company's Staff Handbook for any Whistleblowing Policy / Procedure, and follow it accordingly.

If there is nothing in there, then maybe take a look at the Food Standards Agency website here for further advice.

floss2

Newbiesw wrote: »

I'm guessing the first question on everyone's mind is "Which Supermarket?"
A Conscience versus a Job ? - tricky situation but it wouldn't surprise me what goes on in some of the places & restuarants/take-aways etc.
I can only think that if you feel REALLY strongly about it, maybe a similar Post to a local newspaper?
You may be doing us all a favour too particularly if we use that Supermarket ?

Newbiesw

Please don't do as this poster has suggested - it may compromise your position if you do report your employers, as you may find that you do not have any whistleblower protection if you have publicised the company.

Darksun

Look if there is a whistleblower policy, also look if your company operates a 'directors hotline' or similar that allows staff to anonymously contact company directors with questions and concerns. It would be well worth going above the store managers head to an appropriate regional/national manager, but make sure you follow correct procedures when doing so.

Philycheesesteak

http://www.whistleblower.co.uk/
or
http://www.wikitruth.info/index.php?title=Main_Page

jamespir

if you think its wrong tell your line manager

Pound

wearingamask wrote: »

I work for a large supermarket on a delicatessen counter. All products have a 'life' on the counter, usually a number of days after opening within which we have to sell the product before it must be disposed of.

I can't help with your question but I used to work somewhere that did that with baguettes. The manager told us that since there was no way of knowing how old each baguette was we should look at the ham and throw it away if it was going green!

Newbiesw

floss2 wrote: »

Please don't do as this poster has suggested - it may compromise your position if you do report your employers, as you may find that you do not have any whistleblower protection if you have publicised the company.

I was thinking along the lines of anonamously if OP feels REALLY strongly about it AND wants to keep their job.
Don't you think there's a chance OP may compromise their position anyway by going the formal route with their employers having him down as "Troublemaker".
If you re-read my Post, I did not suggest OP names their employer as I'm aware employers look through Forums/Facebooks, I was just guessing the first question that would go through any reader of this Post "Wonder which one it is?", it was not advice.
Do you not think these things should be public or kept secret?

Newbiesw

Gingernutmeg

It's not legal to do this, and is extremely risky given the nature of the products. As the OP works on a deli counter, I'm assuming the products are things like cooked and cured meats, pates etc - all of which are considered to be high risk. It's extremely bad practice for a manager to suggest that this is an acceptable thing to do.

I'm not sure how the OP should go about this though. If the supermarket has regular unannounced environmental heath inspections then hopefully this would be picked up when samples of the foods are taken for analysis - I know that in my mum's catering business they always take samples of cooked meats to test for acceptable levels of bacteria. However, I don't know if supermarket inspections are unannounced and obviously you'd have to wait for one to happen. You could make an anonymous call to your local Environmental Health department - AFAIK you'd have to give your name but that wouldn't be passed on. I'd wonder though that if there was an inspection focussing on this then the OP would be the first suspect anyway if they've already made it clear they're not happy.

wearingamask

Thanks for the links. I have contacted a number provided in the staff handbook but they advised to contact CAB who are a nightmare to get hold of anyway.

I would like to add that I'm not looking to 'name and shame', I just want to make sure the people responsible do not carry on these practices. As for me feeling 'REALLY strongly' about it, surely no one would want to unknowingly be sold out of date food?!

I am not bothered about staying anon as I'm sure they'd guess it was me and I'm surely in the right anyway.

ETA: They have passed previous routine EH inspections and have never taken away samples AFAIK.