Out of date meat products from supermarket; worrying.

For me the problem is with salad and vegetables. I have received wilting lettuces and celery, carrots and sweet potatoes with black "age" spots, and very wrinkly courgettes. I would never pick up veg like this in store, in fact I don't recall ever seeing veg in this state of decay on display. Like others I have received fresh foods with very short best before dates (eg a large pack of humous with only two days remaining) It seems that the pickers are instructed to select the oldest products to send out. This is from both Tesco and Sainsburys. The supermarkets must be one of the few businesses to be making huge extra profits out of the crisis, it smacks of greed that they are taking advantage of the situation in this way

I've been online shopping with Asda for years and have never had anything out of date, and am always notified if something has a shorter than they'd like shelf life. Even in this difficult time for shop workers, when I've been given substitutes they've always been very acceptable. Top marks to all the workers from me. The management have also promised a weeks extra wage to all their staff in June to say thank you to them for all their hard work. They get full marks from me for showing their appreciation to their staff, and not just grabbing the higher profits they must be making right now.

I have noticed that the use by dates on products in the shop itself is sometimes very tight so I'm guessing it is because of manufacturers taking longer to get them to the shops.

I had my Tesco order. It was all fine. BUT the invoice had a corner torn off and there was blood over the rest of the paperwork. I was furious. Many years ago I was a manager for Tesco and know this is totally unacceptable. Despite the late hour dot com lines for Tesco are open up to midnight. I phoned them straight away. The person I spoke to was horrified and apologised and that was it. I offered to send a photo and she wasn’t interested. I was offered no compensation. So I have therefore stopped having home deliveries. I also don’t require £40 a week of shopping which is their minimum order.

MrGruder - since I am only shopping once a week of course I choose chilled items with the longest possible date. Why would I buy things which need to be consumed within a day or two? Milk, cream, yogurts etc really do need to be within date to be good to eat. The date thing is the main reason I prefer to choose my own.

GaGaJo pork mince makes a lovely meatloaf

I’ve not noticed any problem going on to the shop ( Sainsbury’s). Sometimes they’ve had reduced items needed to be eaten, cooked or frozen on the day, but nothing out of date. I will keep checking. Have never had delivery for this sort of reason, but appreciate some people have no choice.

I have never used on line shopping until now. I have had one order from Tesco which I was pleased with, 1 at Sainsburys and have used Asda for the others. I think my picker was having an off day this week. My replacements were not the best and I have ended up with a lot of crisps, which I do not eat. But as much as I miss doing my own shopping I am grateful that at least I can get my shopping, it is delivered and I am not a risk. I am thankful to all the staff.

At the moment a lot of supermarkets won’t let you refuse items for any reason. If something isn’t right you contact them by email or phone for a refunded. Having said that sending you items particularly meat that has gone by its sell by date is an unacceptable and dangerous practise. You could eat it and be seriously ill which on top of all worries at present is something you can do without.
Could you try another supermarket who aren’t so lacksidasical in their approach? Or you might find a local farm shop or organisation to click and collect from for meat products. M&S have started doing food boxes and you can get meat online in proper refrigerated boxes. Just google for where you live.

I just had my Ocado delivery. Everything had a reasonable sell by date and looked lovely and fresh. A couple of reasonable substitutions and no passion fruit.
I stopped using Tesco about 6mo this ago because they didn’t seem to bother with substitutions and some of their stuff wasn’t up to the standard I would expect.
I rather imagine it depends on the pickers and right now I imagine they have a lot of extra temporary staff.

As for meat as per 25Avalon’s post, I’ve had two different meat boxes and they come well packed in cold boxes. No problem with those at all. I get a veg/fruit box on Friday from a greengrocer in the market - my only complaint is the cabbage but I give that to my neighbour.

I am shielding so doing online shopping and I hate it because I like to check dates and choose my fruit and veg.However it is working OK and my only problem was when they sent watermelons instead of honeydew melons!

Gagajo make cheese cake with double cream and mascapone. Xxx

I have been shopping online for over 20 years and there's rarely a problem. Obviously something's going wrong at your supermarket, hopefully they can sort things out. They have picked up a lot of the demand and have vastly changed the way they operate so I think that the public needs to cut them some slack in the present conditions.

My use by dates, so far, have been very good with Asda. My only recent grouse was asking for disposable gloves and getting a large packet of Marigolds! I have small hands, I did phone them and was given refund and told to give them to someone who could use them!

I have used Sainsburys online shopping for a number of years now with very few problems. All supermarkets are under pressure with staff shortages etc so some leeway should be given. The people working in them are ordinary people who have to work & are very likely scared off getting the virus. I take what I can get on deliveries & think I am lucky to get a slot every week. Being disabled I cannot carry shopping & there are no shops locally that I can get to anyway so am very thankful that I have Sainsburys to shop at online.

I am on the 'extremely vulnerable' list so managed to get an Asda slot but it is only every fortnight. I signed on to Tesco as well and had my first order the other day. It was fine and the chicken was lovely. I am not ordering steak or chops at the moment because I like lean meat and prefer to choose my own.

oh gosh, this is another reason why I do not like online shopping, I like to choose my own stuff
and on the tv the supermarkets or someone seems to be bragging that we are only shopping once a week

that is because we can only place an order online once a week!

I’ve been online shopping with Sainsbury’s for about three years....never had anything out of date in that time...... I am not priority as I’m only 69 .... but I sometimes get second stab at a slot as I’m Delivery Pass customer ( pay up front for the years shopping) ..... getting a slot about once every 15 days. Quite fair in my opinion as I’m able to walk although I dont drive and rely on carrying my own shopping. Just getting over a broken left shoulder bone....and other shoulder has arthritis. So it’s a bit of nightmare when I can’t get a slot, as then I have to shop every two days..... can be scary out there!

I have had this with Tesco. I think the packers are just so busy they aren't being as careful as usual as this hasn't been a problem in the past.

I think that the supermarkets are all trying to do their best at this time .. I managed an Asda pickup slot !! But we had to travel about 20 miles for it because it was the nearest one !! And had to order nearly a week in advance .. it’s a faff if you nee to alter your order too as you have to then wait till 2 days before . By which time done items are out of stock and get replaced eg 2 packs of 9 crumpets instead of 2 packs of potato cakes .. I forgot to tick No Subs .. so ended up giving them away cause we can’t eat that many in a week !!! And no room in the freezer before anyone suggests that !! Their method of refund online may be ok but I just couldn’t be bothered

I think you should complain to the Food Standards Agency and tell them that even after you had mentioned the first occurrence to the manager you still received goods that were past their expiry date.

It isn't good enough, and you are quite right. Others who don't or can't check the dates are being put at risk.

I have shopped online with Waitrose for many years and have never had any of the problems you seem to get with other supermarkets. If I had I would have stopped using them!

Fruit and veg are exactly what I would have chosen as is everything else, goods arrive well packed and at the stipulated time and carried into the kitchen by helpful and polite drivers and no, I don't work for Waitrose!

I am very sceptical about sell-by dates but I would have thought any store selling out of date goods should be reported to Trading Standards. Perhaps when this nightmare time is over stores will have to pay some attention to encouraging customer loyalty.

Im with Mrguder on that and also, people that do this seem to be unaware that folk are waiting to get in after them.

Got my first ever delivery arriving on 8th May I've very mixed feeling after reading comments. Can't imagine why things are so out of date when shelves empty pretty quickly. Watch this space .