Bridlington shops bleach food to stop homeless foraging

[marshlander]

"Shop staff in East Yorkshire have been criticised for pouring bleach on waste food to stop homeless people eating it.

Frozen food chain Iceland said staff at its Bridlington branch had occasionally "intimated" that the waste was treated, but this was against company policy.

It added that it did not offer expired food to charity because it could not be guaranteed as safe for consumption. "


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/8606768.stm

[liskeardjane]

I know of a marks and spencers where a relly works that throws away 6 thousand pounds of spoiled food a day - not the giants causeway to be cryptic! the waste is disgusting - why not give to the local old people if they don't want people in the bins! or families! it shouldn't be thrown away

[Millymollymandy]

Ridiculous isn't it, UK supermarkets throw away perfectly good food whilst French ones leave all the fruit and veg to rot on display in the store and don't even mark it down in price.

Oooooh M&S cream cakes, don't!

[becks77]

On a positive side of this one there was a lady on the radio yesterday who un be known to her employer(insert golden arches) had been putting all the excess food to one side and distributing it for over 5 years to homeless, I forget where, but thats just the best RAK I've come across lately, also considering she could have been sacked at any time if caught.

[Flo]

Sigh - this reflects bad overstocking stocking on the part of the shops as much as anything. Which is just as criminal as throwing it away.

[sortanormalish]

I can't remember the source, I'll look for it if anyone wants me to, But the US and Canada ALONE throw out enough edible food to bring every starving person up to a level of 'poorly nourished.' And if just the nations in the European Union and China joined in, we could make them fat. That is every starving person around the globe. But we still have hungry people on our own streets.

The thing is, the food isn't thrown out because it is dangerous. It is thrown out because it has wilted or gone a little stale, it just isn't premium anymore.

This is one of those things that makes me just want to scream.

[Millymollymandy]

It is thrown out because it has wilted or gone a little stale, it just isn't premium anymore.

I'm quite sure French supermarkets get their fruit and veg from what other countries have thrown out.

[sortanormalish]

Alas, I have never shopped in France. Here in the US, supermarket veg is strange. They are all perfect. They are all the same size. There is no color variation. I've never been able to grow anything like that!

[The Riff-Raff Element]

You know, I'm sure adding bleach to food would be unlawful adulteration. Do they labal it: "Warning this food has been treated with bleach!" And supposing they poisoned some passing dog or cat. I'm not sure they've thought this through.

[Big Al]

Ridiculous isn't it, UK supermarkets throw away perfectly good food whilst French ones leave all the fruit and veg to rot on display in the store and don't even mark it down in price.

Oooooh M&S cream cakes, don't!

This will soon be happening in the UK as the government is doing away with the best before dates and sell by dates to reduce food waste. This is a good idea to reduce the food waste but all it will do in reallity is stop the shops from marking down the food with the whoopsie yellow labels so people like myself will have to pay top price for food where as now we can make daily food choices and menus from what we can find in the bargain isles.

[Flo]

Shush Big Al, we're one step up from the foragers in skips us. When the shops get round to worrying about profits then we'll be bleached out of existence too.

[ellie12022]

What? they're doing away with the dates on food? even meat? hadn't heard that,heck what am I going to do? the co-op here does really good deals sometimes.

i often wonder about the wasted food, i have heard of bins etc being locked but not of things being bleached - ugh. I would have thought that it would cost a company less to give the food away, than to have to throw it away.

A little shop round the corner often has things short date or out of date on offer, (often crisps/chocolate - the essentials but other things too, sometimes).

[indy]

That makes me so angry!! The whole issue of wastage!! That I cant think of anything else to say

[happyhippy]

I would of thought it was the food departments manager ordering too much food!!!!! Surely it makes more sense to possibly under order perishables,than to over order and waste money????

[Helsbells]

But the US and Canada ALONE throw out enough edible food to bring every starving person up to a level of 'poorly nourished.' And if just the nations in the European Union and China joined in, we could make them fat. That is every starving person around the globe.

I have just quoted this to my husband whose father believes that there is not enough food in the world to feed everyone.