supermarket waste-anything we can do?

squishysquishy

I thought I would post on here to see if any of you good people have had the same experience as me and see if there is anything we can do about it.

I went into Asda yesterday and a girl was marking down some cakes to 10p. She wasn't putting them on the shelf but putting them in a trolley. I asked her if I could have one. She replied that yes I could but she wasn't supposed to sell it because it has past it's best before date. I asked what was going to happen to them and she said they were going in the bin, she was just marking them down so the stores waste costs were less!

Is this common practice in the supermarkets? The cake is absolutely fine (just had a piece!). Is there anything that can be done to stop this awful waste of perfectly good food?

WartimeScrapingofMarmite

squishysquishy wrote: »

I went into Asda yesterday and a girl was marking down some cakes to 10p. She wasn't putting them on the shelf but putting them in a trolley. I asked her if I could have one. She replied that yes I could but she wasn't supposed to sell it because it has past it's best before date. I asked what was going to happen to them and she said they were going in the bin, she was just marking them down so the stores waste costs were less!

:eek: I agree this is shocking! There was a programme on about this recently - someone else may remember when and what channel.

I can't understand why supermarkets are not allowed to sell food past it's "best before" date. Websites such as Approved Foods sell these things and like you say, they taste fine! I use Approved Foods alot and have never had a single "out of date" item that didn't taste as it should...I too am confused.........

poorbutrich

squishysquishy wrote: »

I thought I would post on here to see if any of you good people have had the same experience as me and see if there is anything we can do about it.

I went into Asda yesterday and a girl was marking down some cakes to 10p. She wasn't putting them on the shelf but putting them in a trolley. I asked her if I could have one. She replied that yes I could but she wasn't supposed to sell it because it has past it's best before date. I asked what was going to happen to them and she said they were going in the bin, she was just marking them down so the stores waste costs were less!

Is this common practice in the supermarkets? The cake is absolutely fine (just had a piece!). Is there anything that can be done to stop this awful waste of perfectly good food?

I agree this is a terrible waste. However, for everyone who thinks like us, there are 20 who won't touch anything that displays a best-before date of the same day.

I have a 2nd job in a supermarket and have pestered my manager to see if we could compost the waste. I previously tried calling round local charities to see if there was an interest with the repeated response that they can't touch it because if someone happens to get ill (even if not at all related to this food) there is a risk of being sued.

It really makes me angry that people throw away food when people are starving just because of an arbitary date. What happened to using your senses (including common sense) to tell if food is off?

I would suggest writing to the md of the supermarket in question to tell them that you will vote with your feet...

narabanekeater

Glad you mentioned approved foods. I remember there was a 2nd website that sold such food does anyone know please what they are called?

Cheapskate

My DS works in a large supermarket & they regularly chuck away fresh meat etc at the end of the night when the store closes, sometimes £100's!! Even he thinks it's really sinful. We've both bought stuff when it's super-reduced, freeze it then or cook the next day & eat or freeze & we've never been poisoned - again, down to common sense, it never smells off so we eat it!

zippychick

Hi Squishy

As this is not strictly Old Style, I've moved this to the groceries board for you so you can get more input.

Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]!!!!!![/EMAIL].

thanks
Zip

GoodNewmover

Should be given to the homeless. Or those living in poverty who have little to spend on food.

KimYeovil

GoodNewmover wrote: »

Or those living in poverty who have little to spend on food.

Nope, that is a bad idea and wrong. The economy would go bankrupt if those living in poverty were given free food. Most supermarkets don't bother marking stuff down in the first place to avoid this. And it is not that they have little to spend on food - the problem is the little they have they choose not to spend on food.

geri1965_2

poorbutrich wrote: »

It really makes me angry that people throw away food when people are starving just because of an arbitary date. What happened to using your senses (including common sense) to tell if food is off?

I would suggest writing to the md of the supermarket in question to tell them that you will vote with your feet...

You can't necessarily tell if something is "off" by looking at it/smelling it and supermarkets are obliged to put "use by" dates on perishable goods by law.

You can't "vote with your feet" because the other supermarkets all have to adhere to it as well - they simply cannot sell out of date food.

Owain_Moneysaver

geri1965 wrote: »

You can't necessarily tell if something is "off" by looking at it/smelling it and supermarkets are obliged to put "use by" dates on perishable goods by law.

But these were cakes, with a best before date, and it's legal to sell after BB dates providing the food is still safe for consumption.

poorbutrich

KimYeovil wrote: »

Nope, that is a bad idea and wrong. The economy would go bankrupt if those living in poverty were given free food. Most supermarkets don't bother marking stuff down in the first place to avoid this. And it is not that they have little to spend on food - the problem is the little they have they choose not to spend on food.

But it seems wrong that the supermarkets are making multimillion, and billion pound, profits while some people can't afford to feed themselves properly. I agree that the supermarkets have no choice - they have to dispose of food owing to the law that says you can't sell food past its best before date, but there might be more sensible ways than throwing into landfill.

geri1965 wrote: »

You can't necessarily tell if something is "off" by looking at it/smelling it and supermarkets are obliged to put "use by" dates on perishable goods by law.

You can't "vote with your feet" because the other supermarkets all have to adhere to it as well - they simply cannot sell out of date food.

You can vote with your feet by buying fresh fruit and veg at somewhere like a market stall or a farm shop, which as well as not putting best before dates on such items as fruit and veg, also don't tend to wrap cucumbers in plastic.