Scandalous waste - what can we do?

[LaBelleDameSansPatience]

This morning, in our local Co-op, I watched assistants loading melons, strawberries and rhubarb into a trolley. Great, I thought - fruit salad tonight .... but I was told that the fruit was not being reduced, it was being put in the skip. I couldn't even take some for my chickens!

I am very shocked at the waste involved and feel that Something Should Be Done. Not quite sure what - I might write a letter to the manager. Who will, of course, say that it is company policy and it is done for reasons of H&S, due to the life-threatening propensities of ripe (or even - gasp - over-ripe) strawberries.

The immediate 'Something that Should Be Done' will probably involve whoever is responsible for produce stock control at that store getting a bit of a bollocking for over-ordering. Tempered with the knowledge that the orders probably went in before the crappy weather knackered fresh fruit sales. Waste, whether it's throwing stuff away or having to reduce it for quick sale, is sheer loss of profit for any supermarket and it is treated as a 'very bad thing'.

The other 'Something that Should be Done' is a revision of date-codes. Continental supermarkets don't bother with them very often on fresh produce and we're trying to get the same thing here. However, it does rely on in-store staff being super vigilant about getting stuff past its best off display... not a given.

When you say "we're trying to get the same thing here", do you mean we, the supermarkets, or we, the public?

I can quite see that the weather would no doubt have reduced fruit sales ... but why must perfectly good food go in a skip? And can't even be taken to give to chickens? And it was perfectly good - the strawberries were absolutely fine.

'We' as in the produce industry and, more recently, a few MPs. Supermarkets are looking at it but the risk is that, without dates, they lose control of stock rotation. The store in question got it really wrong on this occasion. They will have had several days in which to sell the fruit you saw and on the last day of the shelf-life they could reduce the price to sell it quicker. If it still hasn't gone they can give it away to store staff on the same day. (That's probably where it was destined when you saw it and they didn't want to share...). Skip is very much a last resort.

I don't mind the staff having it - of course not. They could just have said. It was just the thought of the skip. Landfill being filled up with good food which has cost time and money to grow, had a huge carbon footprint being flown over here and which my rabbit, guinea pigs and chickens would have enjoyed. Not to mention me!

How about a letter to your local council to say what you saw and then "I know that retailers make an effort not to end up with unsellable food past the shelf life date, but landfill seems wasteful. Could the council do anything about the shops getting a waste collection regime which would allow sorting of compostable food, plastic and cardboard? If they arrange private refuse collection, could the council develop any incentives (e.g. on commercial property rates) for using high-recycling-rate refuse companies?"

It would wind me up too, seeing that and I don't even have chickens

I think it's food hygiene actually, a relative used to work in sainsbos and if the deli meat was out of date they couldnt even sell or give it to staff, even though it was still safe it went in the bins.

I cant see how fruit and veg could be dangerous though, and it's pretty obvious if it's off anyway.

It's not dangerous. Cooked meats get a very definite 'sell by' because of the bacteria risk. Prepacked fruit and veg gets a 'best before' for freshness and stock rotation. Short of a potato going green, nothing's going to be toxic. Loose fruit and veg can stay on display for as long as they can get away with and it's down to staff to remove things once they're past their best. Once it's in a prepack or they've stuck a date-code on it then they have to dispose at the end of the life or they're breaking the law. Surprised about melons, however... they're not normally date-coded.