What a total waste! Rage

[woolybanana]

In the local Hyper U buying oranges today, the kind that come in string bags. The girl was refilling the stock next to them when she noticed two bags of in which ONE orange was off. And she whipped them out of the display. To be dumped in the rubbish, she said. I asked why she didnt open the bag and display the undamaged fruit on another stand. Not allowed. The whole lot have to be binned. Even the staff were not allowed to have them, and definitely not the needy. No choice. Management policy.

My ar se, it is all about squeezing the most money out of the customer that they can. Where the heck is Mr Hollande when he is really needed?

Bobo, what the heck are we coming to?

There is a commune in Belgium that has insisted that supermarkets in its area have to give opver their waste stock for distribution to charity or whatever. Why not France?

[Val_2]

Yes, its disgusting that food goes to waste like that when many can't afford to pay the current high prices for fruit and veg and I just cannot fathom why they can't put them in a display carton and sell them singly, after all they do that with the locally grown expensive vine tomatoes in summer when there are loose ones in the boxes and then sell them cheaper as loose tomatoes.

Thank goodness my boss dosn't bin the chocolates we work with as we get to take the damaged ones home freely!

[Chancer]

I get through close to 2 * 2 kilo bags per week and its very very rare that there is not at least one that has gone off and has to be thrown away, it does make the others go off quicker as well.

The fruit they they sell bagged at one or two kilos is different to that en vrac, usually a lot cheaper for a start.

Dont go giving them ideas Wooly.

I used to by my fruit from the arab market at Amiens nord, its often far more expensive than the hard discounters though, one week the bananas were a lot so I finally plumped for some bagegd ones at 99cts per kilo, when I got home I found they were labelled Leclerc, beyond the DLC and were originally on sale for 79cts per kilo [:(]

[Benjamin]

Daftness isn't the sole preserve of French supermarkets.

Two days ago I went into our local village branch of Nationwide Building Society.

Could you change this tenner for two fivers please?

You'll have to pay it in to your account and then draw it out.

Pardon?

Do you have an account here?

Yes,

Do you have your (bank) card with you.

Err.....no.

Can't do it then.

I exited muttering chocolate teapot. Added to the withdrawal of commision free foreign card transactions that is just about it for me with this Building Society. (Current advertising "you do need a  bank account but you don't need a bank".

[idun]

Food waste drives me crazy too.  I would hope in France that the supermarkets would give food to the food banks or the Resto du Coeurs. Apparently they are not doing this. I know that in my local fruit and veg shop, they go through all the boxes of fruit that they get in and get rid of the spoiled fruit, but they still sell the rest, so good on them.

I had hoped to open an account with the Nationwide when we got back to the UK, as I rather like the mutualist sort of way. However, we were treat as if we were aliens, rather than returning english people, who already had perfectly legitimate accounts in the UK, so I'll not be ever considering opening an account with them again.

And exchanging money, or not. Well for several years that was my job. Straight exchanges and nothing written down other than I had to balance the books at the end of the business, some of us 'can' and obviously others are such 'ss poor cashiers that they cannot manage to do simple exchanges. And for a bank to check what is in and out only needs a little exchange sheet filling in, as we did at the bank I worked at, before my 'exchange' job. I think that the Nationwide are taking the mickey to be honest. As was La Poste in my village, who insisted on exactly the same thing happening.

[dave21478]

The waste from large, modern retailers is staggering - it would boil your blood if you really knew the half of what actually goes on in the stock rooms.

It comes down to one of a few reasons - time. Its quicker for the stock worker to chuck something out than to spend time opening packs and redistributing items. Traceability (I think I just made that word up?) do the products in the packs come from the same country and those loose? not necessarily fruit but many products can be traced to individual factories or farms from the packaging codes and this would be lost. Why would that matter? all to do with the next reason - accountability. What if something went wrong? unlikely with oranges, but if there were a problem with contamination, perhaps even a product recall, items that have been sold without packaging might be missed which could end in legal trouble. Its all quite unlikely, but the retailers WILL NOT take any kind of risks and would rather just bin stuff.

When i worked for a big supermarket, there were literally thousands of pounds worth of stock binned on a regular basis "just in case". Same goes for non-food. Another company I worked for were approached by local radio to make a donation to their toys for needy kids appeal one christmas. The store stumped up a few teddy bears. Meanwhile, I was in the stockroom with a hacksaw cutting 15 perfectly usable new mountain bikes in half as they could not be sold and were not allowed to be given away either.

[Chancer]

Cant you take them to court for emotional suffering, if someone had made me do that I would be waking up crying at night years later.

[5-element]

Wooly, this is also something very close to my heart, which also enrages me no end. (Mind you, I am also enraged by  the waste going on in many households).

These supermarket policies are wrong, so wrong. It is fair to point out, though, that not ALL of them throw edible stuff away - there are some who do give food to Restos du Coeur, and who let people go through their dustbins (just as there are the supermarkets who have bleach, or dye, or whatever other substance, poured into the waste bins to make sure nobody will try and salvage anything.

Maybe it is optimistic of me, but I get the feeling that there is a growing shift of awareness both in private households and in supermarkets etc... There are endless TV programmes on this issue, even documentaries about "freegans" http://freegan.info/ who are, arguably, carrying out the most extreme form of "living off waste" for ethical and other reasons. And it seems to me too, that it is gradually becoming more and more acceptable to scrounge around other people's waste to reclaim "stuff". Again, this is even becoming a fashionable trend in some milieux, as secondhand shops spring up and are no longer considered fleapits. There are also more numerous social networks of bartering, exchanging, freely giving, and generally encouraging gratuitous generosity.

Overall, I really want to believe that an increased social awareness of the issues surrounding waste is inevitable, and that it is happening right now. Everywhere? Not so sure about that.[:'(]

[Thibault]

The figures for household waste (of food products) in both UK and France is staggering -  households throw away on average one third each week.  As this is an average, and I know I don't throw anything away, there must be some households chucking out half of everything they buy.  [8-)]

There was also the case a few years ago where supermarkets were colouring rejected food to prevent people from scavaging it.  It seems all bound up with the fear of litigation.  Supermarkets throw away perfectly good stuff because it has reached or is close to its sell by date.

It is obscene when you think of all the people who struggle to put food on the table.....

[Thibault]

The figures for household waste (of food products) in both UK and France is staggering -  households throw away on average one third each week.  As this is an average, and I know I don't throw anything away, there must be some households chucking out half of everything they buy.  [8-)]

There was also the case a few years ago where supermarkets were colouring rejected food to prevent people from scavaging it.  It seems all bound up with the fear of litigation.  Supermarkets throw away perfectly good stuff because it has reached or is close to its sell by date.

It is obscene when you think of all the people who struggle to put food on the table.....

[YCCMB]

I've said often before that I do throw away more fruit and veg in France than I ever have in the UK, primarily because I find it actually goes off more quickly in France. On the one hand, it could be argued that perhaps this is my fault, because I am buying too much. On the other, it could be argued that the fruit and veg on sale in France consists of more local produce which has not been picked too early and subjected to miles of refrigerated transport to arrive at the supermarket still unripe, hence it doesn't last as long once purchased. However, this seems to apply to things like bananas, which aren't grown in France, so I'm sceptical. I think it's (at least partly) that French supermarkets offer fruit and veg for sale until it's practically rotting, so to an extent I can understand why there's not much left that's worth giving away after it's been removed from sale. I guess that, if I'm surprised by anything, it's the fact that in Woolly's supermarket, they'd remove a bag of oranges from sale because one was a bit iffy. Round my neck of the woods, they'd just leave it on sale until the rest of the bag had joined the rotten one.

Now I think about it, I have seldom seen French supermarkets selling off stuff that's about to reach its "sell by" date at a discount. In my local supermarket here, there's always a shelf section devoted to these lines, and in the current climate, it's probably one of the most popular places in the whole shop. In fact, I was shopping quite late the other evening and they were obviously sorting out the fruit and veg, and putting a lot of stuff in that particular area, and a fair crowd had formed around it!

I've been made aware of how much food we, as a household, waste each week, and I'm pleased to say that the answer is "not much". I can say this with some conviction, as we've been provided with special recycling bins for our food waste, and so I know exactly what I put in there. It's generally a mix of tea bags, skins and peelings from fruit and veg, and the odd slice of stale bread.

[Mac]

Certainly in the UK (can't speak for France) the fear of litigation is one of the main reasons for supermarkets throwing food away. I was a Fresh Food manager in one of the large supermarkets before I retired and believe me I never wanted to throw food away that I could sell because I had a 'waste target' and if I exceeded that I would be hauled over the coals-and it wasn't a huge amount. Anything within a day of its sell by date was reduced-eventually down to a penny if thats what it took to sell it.Legally I couldn't sell anything past its sell by date-but there is also the confusion engendered by-'sell by',' best before', and 'use by' dates -all of which mean something different. Passing this food on to charities was not encouraged because there had been litigation by people who got food poisoning from food past it date given to charities.

Fresh foods where the packaging was open was thrown away because of the risk of contamination. Frozen or chilled food dumped by customers around the store because they changed their mind had to thrown away (out of the chill chain),food opened and partially eaten by customers had to be thrown away( contamination-and yes it happened at lot)

Stores don't want to throw food away-it cost them on their profits-the last place they want to be hit!

[powerdesal]

''It's generally a mix of tea bags, skins and peelings from fruit and veg, and the odd slice of stale bread.''

Betty,

All those things can go on the compost heap, no need to throw them in the bin,

[YCCMB]

I'm sure you're right. What am I then supposed to put the compost on?

[Hereford]

Food does get sent to Restos du coeur.   Thursday (so today) is distribution day and in the town where we are both helpers (benevoles) we will find a large quantity of bread, pain au chocolat, gateaux and other items have been given to us by a local supermarket.   We use some of the cakes to go with the coffee our "customers" get free and all the rest will be handed out. This will be over and above the normal distribution, and today there will be extra for Christmas.

The number of claimants this year is up hugely, young families, single men and even pensioners. 

I agree though that we would never get fruit or veg donated - Restos buy that along with all the other supplies.

Mrs H

[PaulT]

[quote user="Hereford"]Food does get sent to Restos du coeur.   Thursday (so today) is distribution day and in the town where we are both helpers (benevoles) we will find a large quantity of ..... pain au chocolat, gateaux.......   We use some of the cakes ....... 

Mrs H

[/quote]

Marie Antoinette was ahead of her time [:D]

[PaulT]

Well, in the UK they are saying that because of the poor harvest, due to the rain, that supermarkets will have to sell misshapen fruit and vegetables. So I can only assume that at times of good harvest anything that is not aesthetically pleasing is thrown away.

To my mind not only is this wasteful but food could be produced from less fields at a lower cost if all fruit and veg was sold.

[Val_2]

Going back at least 25years ago just before we bought in France, my husband used to go to the local Asda around about 19.30 on a saturday night when everything fresh was being sold off for less than half the price, especially left over bread which we used to freeze along with fresh meat and veg.Times were hard back then with two little ones and me not working so we were glad of this and so were many other people at that time of day, they don't do it here though. Have you noticed how fast the xmas chocs disappear after the 25th December never to be seen again when they could still be sold.

Another gripe I have with french supermarkets is their ridiculous notion that buying a pack of 24 toilet rolls saves money when if you actually buy 2 x dozen rolls of same make it works out much cheaper! What is the logic in buying bulk there cos they have it back to front!

[Chancer]

I still do that in Tesco and Asda when in the UK, I once got a whole salmon for 99 pence, cut it into portions and froze them, it was just fine.

I still sometimes find meat in Lidl at 30% off in France, most of the meat in my freezer is that.

[5-element]

I am another 30% off person. Our LIDL does have one (whole poulet fermier is a good one, goes straight into the freezer!). There is also a 1-euro per kilo bin in our greengrocer. I get whole collections of red peppers, grill them, and freeze. Sometimes, especially after the festive season, there are wonderful items like passion fruits, mangoes, oyster mushrooms, etc... And then at the baker, there is "pain de la veille", but not just bread - and it's half-price!

 

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

Food also gets given to the Banque Alimentaire -- this acts as a sort of wholesaler for charities like Croix Rouge, St Vincent de Paul and (at least in our department) also for the social aid operations of the various communes. In fact we service pretty well everyone but Restos du Coeur, who want to keep control of their own supply chain.

We send our vans out every day to local supermarkets like Carrefour and collect quite a tonnage that way. We have to follow the same food hygiene regulations as the commercial operations, so a part of what we collect has to be binned because it is time expired. However, most food is distributed.

The BA also acts as a distributor for food aid from the French state and the EU, as well as negotiating deals with manufacturers.

Les 97 Banques Alimentaires et antennes ont distribué 89 000 tonnes de denrées, équivalant à 268 millions d'euros, à 5100 associations et organismes sociaux. Ainsi, tout au long de l'année, environ 750000 personnes ont pu bénéficier de cette aide alimentaire représentant l'équivalent de 178 millions de repas.

http://www.banquealimentaire.org/?prehome=0

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banque_alimentaire

 

[andyh4]

[quote user="PaulT"]

Well, in the UK they are saying that because of the poor harvest, due to the rain, that supermarkets will have to sell misshapen fruit and vegetables. So I can only assume that at times of good harvest anything that is not aesthetically pleasing is thrown away.

To my mind not only is this wasteful but food could be produced from less fields at a lower cost if all fruit and veg was sold.

[/quote]

 

In some cases it gets thrown or ploughed back in and in others it ends up in the processed food chain (misshapen or small apples end up in apple sauce, apple juice etc) - so not entirely lost, but more lost than need be, so I agree totally with the sentiment.

[PaulT]

[quote user="Val_2"]

Another gripe I have with french supermarkets is their ridiculous notion that buying a pack of 24 toilet rolls saves money when if you actually buy 2 x dozen rolls of same make it works out much cheaper! What is the logic in buying bulk there cos they have it back to front!

[/quote]

Well, they do it in the UK as well (soap powder seems to be a regular one) - they are going on the principle that the average buyer will think 'the bigger the pack the cheaper the contents'. Always look at the cost per litre / kg etc so that you can make an informed choice.