Poor quality of aldi fruit

A._Badger

cyantist wrote: »

I wonder if aldi use less chemicals to preserve the fruit. When I used to have an allotment I'd pick strawberries and they'd be in the fridge within an hour, and they'd never last a week. Whereas the ones I buy from tesco do, despite the fact that they are already probably at least a couple of days old when I buy them. Just what are they doing to the tesco ones?

No supermarket adds preservatives to fresh fruit.

What they do is buy varieties that travel and keep well (often to the exclusion of flavour) and also pick before peak ripeness.

If you've ever wondered by supermarket fruit tastes so much worse than something you have grown, or that comes direct from a decent commercial grower, that's why.

System

JAG wrote: »

I have read elsewhere when this topic came up before to explain why Aldi fruit doesn't seem to last. The major supermarkets keep a lot of fruit and veg chilled before it ends up on the shelf to extend the lifespan, whereas Aldi have limited chilling capability to reduce costs.

I know Sainsburys keep their soft fruit, salad leaves in the walk in chiller with their other fresh items like milk, ready meals and thats about 5c They put every other f&v, apart from bananas and potatoes in another chiller which is about 10-12c.

Blueyez

robin58 wrote: »

The trouble I have found with my local Sainsbury's is they do keep their fruit and veg chilled. But I find their food goes off quicker than Aldi's.

Had cucumbers go to mush within 4 days and bananas go black and mushy within 3 days.

I had the exact same problem with the Sainsbury's cucumbers, I thought It was my fridge that was on the way out but it happened a few times so I went back to buying them from Aldi. Same with Sainsbury's grapes, used to get the 'mini' packs and they were gross after about two days.

I get Cucumber, cabbage, parsnips, pears (they do a bag of 'mini' pears that are so juicy), Kiwi and figs from Aldi which I've never had a problem with but it seems things like carrots and fruits like peaches, grapes and nectarines are a bit hit and miss.

skintboater

I had this problem with both Aldi & Waitrose fruit. In both stores I had witnessed staff throwing fruit onto the shelves. I complained to them both by email.
Waitrose gave me a stock answer. But, Aldi's Area Manager contacted me and advised that she had gone into the store concerned and actually caught the culpit in the act (it turned out to be the assistant manager).
She (the AM) sounded really concerned and was genuinely grateful.
They offered me a goodwill gesture of a bottle of Wine and a bunch of Flowers, but I never took them up on it.

I was quite impressed by the way Aldi handled it and have never bought fruit from Waitrose since.

PenguinOfDeath

I did stop buying grapes from aldi for a while as they started going off really quickly and sometimes had a weird powdery film on them.

Bought some a couple of weeks ago and they were fine had no problems since

robin58

PenguinOfDeath wrote: »

I did stop buying grapes from aldi for a while as they started going off really quickly and sometimes had a weird powdery film on them.

Bought some a couple of weeks ago and they were fine had no problems since

I seem to find products now tend to last longer since they have put in cooler sections in the soft fruit and salad areas.

vacationgirl

I have bought fruit and vegetables from Aldi from time to time and it has been ok, but on one occasion I bought lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes etc etc to make a salad and it had an earthy taste to it so I tend to shop from either Sainbury's or Morrison's each week.

Yesterday however I did our weekly shop at Sainsbury's and forgot to buy some Kiwi so I stopped at a Morrison's store on the way home and found the loose kiwi were squidgy.The pre packed ones had to be used by yesterday,when I spoke to an assistant they advised me that they were still ok to eat and would simply be removed from the shelves and re wraped with a new use by date:eek:

Stompa

vacationgirl wrote: »

Yesterday however I did our weekly shop at Sainsbury's and forgot to buy some Kiwi...

Kiwi is about the only fruit I've ever had problems with at Aldi. They always seem rock hard, and never ripen.