Morning:
6°c
One of Damilola Taylor's killers was back behind bars today - only 16 days after being released from jail. Ricky Preddie (pictured left) was recalled to prison last night after breaching the terms of his parole
More...
Supermarket food bought online is 'less fresh than in store'
Last updated at 15:52pm on 22.11.07Shoppers who buy their groceries online have long suspected they are sent produce nearing its best-before date. Now a survey appears to show they are right.
While customers can reject items that will need to be consumed within a day or two when they shop at a supermarket, they have no such choice when the goods are delivered direct to their homes.
Yesterday a survey by Which? revealed that groceries bought online are on average more than a day less fresh than those purchased in-store.
Scroll down for more...
Ocado delivers groceries on behalf of Waitrose - but many customers are getting food that is almost out of date
One loaf of bread ordered over the Internet had a best before date eight days earlier than an equivalent product bought at a branch of the same supermarket.
The difference could equate to thousands of tons of groceries being thrown out as they have gone off sooner than consumers expected.
However the supermarkets have called the finding 'nonsense', saying online shoppers receive exactly the same goods as those who visit stores.
Which? researchers visited Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Waitrose branches and bought ten fresh items typically bought in a weekly shop, choosing the freshest, non-organic produce.
The shopping list was: a bag of carrots, a punnet of plums, a cucumber, a bag of baking potatoes, cheddar cheese, two chicken breasts, a Hovis wholemeal loaf, a bag of mixed lettuce, 12 free-range eggs and semi-skimmed milk.
They also ordered identical items online from the four supermarkets to arrive on the same day as the shop visits.
The research found that on average the best-before dates on produce bought in-store were more than a day later than for goods bought over the Internet.
Which? has not released a full breakdown of its research, but says no supermarket performed worse than any other overall.
Scroll down for more...
Buying fresh: food bought in-store has a longer sell-by date, the study found
A Which? spokesman said: "Online shopping might save you from traipsing round a busy supermarket but you may need to eat your food sooner than if you shop in the store."
Last night a spokesman for Asda said: "It's nonsense.
"When you order home shopping at Asda it comes from exactly the same place your normal shopping comes from - our stores."
Sainsbury's and Tesco said their personal shoppers were trained to pick the freshest produce in the store.
Tesco added that online customers had the option of requesting minimum best-before dates.
Waitrose said its grocery shoppers pick orders during opening hours so goods ought to be the same as those that customers would choose themselves.
Reader views (12)
When I use Waitrose online, if I am not happy with any aspect of the groceries (quality, damage, mispricing or sell-by dates), a quick email to Customer Services results in a fast,no-questions refund. On the contrary, when I shopped instore at Tesco, I had to queue up at the tobacco counter, wait for a manager and then argue to get a refund on mis-priced items. If you don't like what you get - tell them! If they won't refund you, switch suppliers.
- Stephen, London, UK, 04/10/2011 23:42
Report abuse
I recently shopped at Waitrose online and was very disappointed with the sell by dates on the food as it meant it was to be consumed within the next few days on receipt. Having done a weeks worth of shopping I was not impressed. I won't be shopping there again in a hurry unless its an emergency.
- Parm, UK, 22/11/2007 16:41
Report abuse
Bread with an 8 day sell by date?
- Dave, London, 22/11/2007 16:04
Report abuse
My daughter use's on-line stores and has had a lot of problems with them, on 2 occasions they charged her twice and on other occasions they have supplied the wrong items. They do however respond to complaints very quickly and put things right.
I guess the next question is well why she continues to use them; the answer is because she has to work long hours and commute so she has little choice but to use them.
- Mike, Bedford England, 22/11/2007 15:15
Report abuse
Some people who are less mobile and do not have a car buy their food online, i.e. me! That doesn't mean that we have to be palmed off with old food!
- Natty, London, 22/11/2007 13:43
Report abuse
Well duh! obviously the packers are going to pack the least fresh first as they work for the grocer not the customer. Deal with it. I use Ocado all the time and just accept it. On the odd occasion I go to Waitrose I find a much better fresher selection but therein lies the rub - as I have no car I can only carry small amounts. If you're worried about it support your local corner grocer for your fresh fruit and veg and just order tins from online retailers.
- Squiz, Islington, 22/11/2007 12:42
Report abuse
Why on earth would anyone buy food on-line? I have to inspect the food that I buy in supermarkets as some of it is very poor quality. I certainly wouldn't trust any of the people that work in supermarkets to check my food for me.
- Trevor Roll, London, 22/11/2007 11:12
Report abuse
We shop at Tesco and Sainsbury online and have done for a long time now and they are both very good. However Tesco have now hiked their delivery charges up so much we shall hardly use them online again and as for the short shelf life/sell by date, Sainsbury always put on the print out if there is a short life item delivered and the driver also points this out as soon as you open the door so I do not know where the problem is. If you do not want the item it is taken off your bill and you are refunded.
- Monica, Portsmouth, 22/11/2007 11:05
Report abuse
I have used both Sainsburys and Waitrose's online services and have had problems with both. I find that some foods show use-by dates of the day it has been delivered which is totally unacceptable. Sainsburys told me that they have a process for selection for online orders whereby this shouldn't happen so it must have been a 'slip-up' by the store from which the goods were picked. The many occasions this has happened prove that it is not an isolated problem.
- We, Kent, 22/11/2007 09:46
Report abuse
We were buying our groceries at Occado (Waitrose) but found that the quality, choice and freshness from the online service had deteriorated over the past year. Now we use Sainsbury's which is cheaper, has longer dated produce and more choice.
- Adam, Harrow, UK, 22/11/2007 09:42
Report abuse
I shop at tesco and sometimes the food isn't fresh but I must say they are very good - they refund the money. I have always put by the latest date but it's their shoppers they don't really care and just grab anything. Well now that this has been brought to light maybe we will all get fresher food!
- Stephanie, London, 22/11/2007 09:01
Report abuse
There's an element of loss of control here: when you buy food personally, you pick goods with the longest life - normally stacked right at the back of the shelf by the supermarket to encourage the taking of older stuff first.
When purchased on-line, the picker doesn't have the incentive to go for the freshest and is under pressure to help the store manage its stock turnover, as long as the product picked has an acceptable amount of life, for which there are guidelines.
- Matthew, london, 22/11/2007 08:37
Report abuse
