Anyone notice food quality declining really badly?

[heartbroken22]

Just had a block of cheese go off that would have normally lasted a lot longer. Didn't do anything different. But might have to change supermarkets now.

Since they got rid of best before dates on fruit & veg I've noticed my supermarket selling older produce and that doesn't last as long in the fridge. Which is really fucking annoying.

Haven't noticed any change in cheese. BUT you probably heard that the cost of dairy products has skyrocketed so I wouldn't be surprised if manufacturers were cutting costs, perhaps resulting in lower quality products.

Another possibility is that your fridge isn't cold enough!

Yes!! I was saying this only yesterday. I used to shop at Aldi for around the last year, but my nearest one is 25 mins away, and with two small children and elderly infirm parents to look after I need ideally a supermarket that delivers now. I've used tesco fairly consistently for delivery when needed for years - the fresh food is always on the turn very quickly or just doesn't taste like it should? Tried asda and that seemed worse.

Yes, cheese doesn't seem to melt and bubble and go brown under the grill anymore. It just sort of sits there like rubber.

Bought red peppers the other day. They weren't at all crisp and juicy like they should be. Soft and bendy when I sliced into them. Plus there were grey bits inside.

We don’t live in the UK but when we come back I think the food is poor quality worsening each time. I find the packaging is very ‘well done’ there and hides the reality of what’s been eaten and often poor quality. I was absolutely horrified by the recent meat scandal of the supplier faking labels and mixing rotten meat with good.. then supplying big supermarkets. They reckon they’ve been doing it for 15 years!!! There was a good podcast series on it a few weeks back, the Guardian I think it was. x

Yes to fruit and veg going off way quicker.

Other things, I haven’t noticed quality going down but definitely “shrinkflation”.

I have fibromyalgia so often buy pre chopped veg, I have had packets from Sainsbury’s, ASDA and Tesco in recent weeks that have been slimy and rotten before their sell by date. Berries and bananas are also not lasting.

With fresh foods I genuinely haven’t noticed, with the exception of out-of-season fruit and veg - and frankly, I don’t think it’s especially reasonable to expect perfect quality from a tomato or pepper which has been shipped across continents in an artificial air pocket of ripening chemicals in March, so I let that one slide.

Processed foods I can tell many manufacturers are changing recipes so as to save money on the pricier ingredients and processes.

I have noticed apples are smaller and wrinkle quicker, same for peppers. Other veg and fruit seem okay.

Mostly I’m annoyed by some pre-made products I used to buy such as veggie samosas and some tarts, they taste ‘fake’ now. This is at Waitrose

Only buying from my local lidl. I have no idea what they do to their food but it never lasts. I would never now just pick up a bag of peppers and put it in my trolly. I look at them through the bag carefully first

I agree about really having to watch the freshness of stuff now. I move perishables at the front out of the way now and take the fresher stuff at the back. A store worker 'caught' me this week and acted huffy but I'm not paying full price for a pack of something that's going to expire straight away.

Yes definitely. There’s nearly always one bad onion in the pack of 3 I buy from Aldi. I bought some pears which lasted 48 hours before they collapsed with mushy mould. I love going abroad and buying fresh fruit and veg. If I had a greengrocer closer I’d do the same here.

I've always done this - it's how my Mum taught me to shop!

And I know they've done away with some of the Best Before dates, but many of the items still have a packing code on them which is quite easy to decipher so you know which is the newest product (sainsburys).

I’ve noticed that both veg and meat have shorter dates. You have to be rally careful.

I’ve noticed food quality standards have been slipping for the past year or so. M&S was the first place I noticed it when their ready meals started to taste bland and the meat was clearly being changed for cheaper cuts, coupled with higher prices and shrinking portion sizes it’s not good at all. As for fresh fruit and veg the removal of BB dates muddies the water in the supermarkets favour so they can get away with selling off substandard produce.

No doubt it’s a combination of supply chain issues, Brexit, poor crops, Covid and the U/R war.

a lot comes down to weather/climate change.
the below for example:

I have noticed apples are smaller and wrinkle quicker, same for peppers. Other veg and fruit seem okay.

if you see the weather reports from spain (where a lot of uk's fresh produce comes from) brace yourselves for even poorer quality and higher prices.

same for produce from greenhouses. these need gas for heat and co2 for optimum growing conditions.
farmers have to chose between less input (poorer harvest) or more (more costs).
both results in higher costs in supermarkets.

Sainsbury's fruit and veg is appalling now. Usually half a 6 pack of apples will be brown inside or taste disgusting. Tomatoes and peppers go wrinkly within a day. Carrots are slimy.

Doing away with best before dates mean that the supermarkets are are able to sell produce well past its best and just pass the cost and the waste on to us!

Yes and another thing that has fucked be off is that they’ve made some things that were previously nicely vegetarian (ie had cheese or other dairy in them) totally vegan. Killing two birds with one stone and combining products. Restaurants do this so much now too. I don’t want to be vegan one bit.

It's hit & miss with fresh veg. I always found that Lidl stuff went off quickly so would get it elsewhere, but recently have had manky tomatoes from Waitrose and as the best cucumbers were from Lidl (unusual) was getting them from there but the last few have been going off quickly. Morrisons is generally OK if you don't mind stuff not being available.

Sainsburys were OK as long as you sorted through them but there was one day when an entire section of cauliflowers was full to the top and all of them were rotten. M&S is also not good, but I never found them to be any good anyway. Overpriced and went off quickly as far back as I remember. I actively avoid their stuff.

Oh the quality of fruit and veg has gone right down the pan since they removed sell by dates, (Sainsbury's) oranges mouldy in the middle 🤢 ,carrots bendy after a few days . Supermarkets waste might have gone down but they are selling us shit that still ends up in the bin , except it is us paying the price for it now😡 .

I can't comment on meat as I don't buy it, just the veg which makes up most of the weekly shop.

Not in the slightest

It's to keep the prices as steady as possible.

Yes, everything is going up. But reducing quality a bit, or reducing loss-making waste by removing best-before dates, helps to mitigate increase.

As does reducing size of goods, which is also going on.

Ooh would be interesting to know what this is. While I get why BB dates have been taken off packages it is actually making my food waste worse ...we sometimes accidentally double up on things we eat a lot off (e.g cucumber) buying one in main shop and one in top up shop...I then have two whole cucumbers which should last if I open the one purchased first, first. But inevitably I now cannot tell which one I got first because they no longer have dates 🙈 ...then end up opening the wrong one first

We've noticed things that had long dates on them are now out in a week. Assume it's because they've been sat in lorry somewhere for the first 3 weeks trying to get through border control.

Keeping the price low means f-all if the consumer is having to waste money buying it then for it to end up in the bin ,it's so frustrating .