Bags of food waste at well known bakers in Romford

[Malibuismysecrethome]

I’m upset to see the bags of food wasted by the Romford branch of a High Street food outlet and their spokesperson saying is goes for renewable energy. A former worker has exposed the practice. Why can’t it be put out at 3.30 pm for school kids and people in food poverty. The binned items include sandwiches.

I suppose it’s the tip of the iceberg. We only knew about this as an employee out it on tiktok. It’s probably endemic is the industry.

Personally I think it’s appalling and whether it’s a franchise or not bad business practice.

A lot of Greggs are part of the too good to go scheme. It's an app you can download and you get a "magic bag" of food from the outlets that are in it for a fraction of the full price. Morrisons are in it too. Well worth getting.

toogoodtogo.co.uk/en-gb

Can you imagine the after school crush in Greggs with all the students waiting for their free doughnut/sausage roll?

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Why the anger at food donations? It's a sad thing that people are relying on food banks.

Why get angry that food could be being consumed rather than going to landfill? Has no one ever bought the reduced version when available?

@Malibuismysecrethome

I suppose it’s the tip of the iceberg. We only knew about this as an employee out it on tiktok. It’s probably endemic is the industry. Personally I think it’s appalling and whether it’s a franchise or not bad business practice.

Are you reading any of the replies explaining why this is not as straightforward as you think?

@Sparklingbrook

www.mirror.co.uk/money/greggs-worker-fired-after-exposing-26009137

Here's the actual story. Sounds like not every Greggs has an arrangement with charity to donate. And there's all sorts of regulations regarding refrigeration, or how long a hot product has been out of the oven, not to mention Natasha's Law and food labelling re allergies. Sometimes things aren't as simple as you would like.

I echo this point. Sometimes even though there are food waste organisations in an area the logistics like timings don't work out. It's not just as simple as letting people help themselves, there's a lot of legislation to work through. Natasha's Law, whilst having huge positive aspects has made food redistribution much trickier.

Yes, Natasha's Law is really important but it makes donating any unpackaged food (therefore no ingredient labelling) very tricky.
Also anything refrigerated needs to stay that way and not all the collecting charities will have vans with refrigeration to collect.
There's so much more to it.

There are huge logistical problems involved in donating to Food Banks, I help at a FB and we do get some fresh food donations from supermarkets, bakeries etc - but the expectations regarding how the food is transported, stored etc is not easy ... I personally don't agree with these extreme H & S rules but, sadly, that is the society we live in today.

I am appalled. But it is not the responsibility of local franchises to provide food!

This is wrong, just wrong!

I am reading the replies but there isn’t a problem if you are buying unpackaged food in the shop ie a sausage roll, so why can’t it be sold off cheaply at the end of the day. Say 30 mins before closing time then the labels could be read.

@Malibuismysecrethome

I am reading the replies but there isn’t a problem if you are buying unpackaged food in the shop ie a sausage roll, so why can’t it be sold off cheaply at the end of the day. Say 30 mins before closing time then the labels could be read.

If it was a thing for Greggs to discount food massively half an hour before closing that would impact trade during the day considerably.

Is this the in reference to Greggs wasting tons of food a day?
It’s dreadful and so wasteful.
Then they sacked the poor girl who highlighted it!

@KeepingAnOpenMind

Is this the in reference to Greggs wasting tons of food a day? It’s dreadful and so wasteful. Then they sacked the poor girl who highlighted it!

Yes it is, at one particular store in Romford. They need to sign up to donate the food to a charity if at all possible, I'm sure Greggs Head Office is onto it, to establish why so much food is being prepared to start with.

There is a lot of food waste in this country, and a lot of obesity!
From a sustainability point of view, they need to manage their SKUs better!

Very few people need a 3pm Greggs sausage roll!
Very few!

What is the obsession and expectation of free food?!

I can see the AIBU now-

'AIBU to be absolutely disgusted that my DD was walking home from school past Greggs and they were handing out free doughnuts and sausage rolls so she had one of each? Especially with the obesity problems in the is country. I am raging, she couldn't eat the massive salad I had prepared for her dinner'

I don't think the average person is after free food. But if times are hard (just because you've never experienced hunger and financial hardship) it would be good to know that edible food is helping people and not just rotting in landfill.

Even if you would enjoy seeing people go hungry, this food shouldn't be going to landfill when it should be going into food waste instead.

I went to get a Greggs to good to go bag
As I was there, they were taking all the sandwiches off the fridge section and crushing them into a bin bag, and I mean two bulging bin bags

Got home, opened the too good to go bag and listed some of it in Olio. A newly homeless man walked a good few miles to come and collect some food, when I asked if he needed anything else he said he was desperate for a drink of water

I couldn't sleep that night for thinking about the contrast between the guy and greggs binning the food he was desperate for

Greegs could have used this as a huge turning point and made this girl the champion of it. She has highlighted issue they have.

Our local independent takes it to the true hospital and homeless shelter

The chain in question do actually donate a lot of the left stock but via specially arranged arrangements. They stopped allowing them to be given away willy nilly as it once backfired and they got sued when it went wrong.

QuincytgeQuince very few people need a 3.00 pm sausage roll.
If you are a teenager with no food at home and no evening meal it would be wonderful to have one!

@Stellaris22

I don't think the average person is after free food. But if times are hard (just because you've never experienced hunger and financial hardship) it would be good to know that edible food is helping people and not just rotting in landfill.

Even if you would enjoy seeing people go hungry, this food shouldn't be going to landfill when it should be going into food waste instead.

Yes, just because people think that free food being handed out by Gregg’s is not a good idea, they must enjoy seeing other people go hungry! That’s some mental gymnastics there!

They probably also kill puppies, mug grannies and of course, vote Tory!

@Malibuismysecrethome

I can’t see people who want breakfast or lunch waiting until 3.30 pm to eat and we are talking 6 black bags so the shop could afford to give it away or sell at a greatly reduced rate and not just dump food.

If you’ve ever gone without then you would wait until 3.30 to eat