Supermarket Fresh fruit and vegetables going off quicker?

Lovely carrots for dinner today which DH bought in Tesco yesterday.
They were pre-packed too.

I find lining the vegetable and salad drawers in the fridge with J cloths helps, emptying the veg out of any bags first.

I put kitchen towel in my salad drawer which i change regular (old goes in the composter)

O am glad it wasn't just my imagination (or my fridge!!)

Never put tomatoes in the fridge or buy them if they have been refrigerated, they lose all flavour.
I have always bought from the same market stall, I rarely have a problem and if I do mention something was off they always replace it.

Again, I thought it was just me, being unlucky, but it’s all too frequent now. I don’t remember potatoes sprouting eyes in such a short time as they do now. Grapes, too, go slimy and mouldy more quickly. Mandarins go mouldy if we keep them more than a few days and bananas go brown. I’ve taken to buying loose fruit and veg from a farm shop a few miles away. It lasts a lot longer and this is what I’m trying to do despite the big hike in petrol costs. I haven’t noticed a problem with meat so far but we don’t use a lot. I’ve thrown quite a lot of stuff in the recycling bin but I'm trying to buy smaller quantities and to use them up quickly between farm shop visits.

Callistemon21

^The potatoes were awful^
They were from Tesco.

My potatoes were from Sainsbury's and they turned wet and had a peculiar smell. Carrots, green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower seem to get mould the day after they are delivered. One packet of salad leaves was like seaweed. Also, the onions and garlic all seem to have green shoots and the peaches perfect from the outside but rotten within.
We haven't got a garden to grow our own so are now on the look out for a farmers market.

Me too. Yesterday’s carrots from Tesco, emptied from the bag into the salad drawer, we’re slimy this afternoon. It’s reassuring to read your comments.

Glad it's not just me! Used a whole bag of potatoes from Tesco for roasting today. Bought 2 days ago, kept in dark, already sprouting and many binned with black spots all the way through! Same issue as you all with grapes and strawberries though DS just gave us all some of his strawberry plants so hope they will be better. Not even as if they are kept. for long. Made banana loaf from the going brown bananas!

I went to Morrison's last Saturday and the fruit and veg was in a dreadful state...it used to be so good. Are they turning down the air con in warehouses to save money?

If it is stuff coming into the UK I would imagine that the problems caused by congestion on ferries might be relevant. The collapse of P and O has had significant impact and delays for trucks getting out of the UK may also have a knock-on effect. I have travelled to the UK twice in the last few weeks and the volume of extra trucks on the longer crossings has been noticeable.

I do hope everyone is complaining about this and/or getting a replacement. We are making ourselves quite unpopular at our local Tesco. Added to this we have experienced a sloppy attitude to shelf filling in the shops with incorrect prices being displayed. To give one example : Jersey Royals were advertised as £1 but we were charged £2.50. It was the 750gr that were on offer but the notice was placed in front of the 1kilo pack . Grr!

£1.50 is a bit of a difference
You have a point though, if this has been going on for months - why has nothing been implemented to stop it happening? It is such a waste of food

I always go for UK grown vegetables so import delays will not be the cause of the problem with carrots. That said, there may be an issue with local transportation, how this can affect vegetables grown across the UK & distributed into many supermarket chains?

No farm shops here for miles, but a street market within a long stroll so I’ll try that.

Now on a fixed income, I keep a very sharp eye on shelf prices which steers where I buy weekly branded staples. I also keep an eye on the till display as things are scanned through - yes, I miss being at work & having my brain in gear - so I notice inconsistencies from the shelf price.

Recently I’ve taken items up to the customer service desk to address an overcharge. Staff always check & very apologetic for the inconvenience, seems like the disconnect from the shelf price & system price at the tills is not infrequent.

Quite a balanced view from The Guardian.

The rot started long before Brexit and the Pandemic.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/aug/29/food-beer-toys-medical-kit-why-is-britain-running-out-of-everything

A major part of the problem is supply chain issues made worse by Brexit.

If Johnson insists on a trade war it will get worse

I honestly can’t say I’ve noticed any of this. I usually buy fruit and veg in Asda - any plastic packaging is removed or torn well open. In particular carrots are decanted into one of the net bags my knitting yarn comes in!

I line my salad/veg drawer with an old tea towel. (And don’t change it as often as I should.)

I did chuck out two clementines that were going squishy yesterday, but we’d had them for several days. I think they were from M&S, which dh likes when he does the odd food shop.

Lido

Yes I have noticed this too.

Also noticed that the plants and flowers in my local Morrisons are in much worse condition on the shelves.

Lido In my Morrisons it would be a good idea if the staff watered the plants so many left to dry out and wither.

I was buying a leek last week in Morrisons. There were about 6 loose ones to choose from and all were tinged brown and turning soft. They were more brown than green. The nice fresh looking ones were in packs of 3.

I asked a member of staff if there were any fresh loose leeks. His reply was they only took delivery of one loose crate a day and I was looking at them. I found it hard to believe they were delivered in that deteriorated state and they put them on display. They were only fit for the compost heap.

glammanana

Lido

Yes I have noticed this too.

Also noticed that the plants and flowers in my local Morrisons are in much worse condition on the shelves.

Lido In my Morrisons it would be a good idea if the staff watered the plants so many left to dry out and wither.

I have been known to buy sadly withering plants because I felt sorry for them! If they looked ‘saveable’, that is.
Homebase used to be worst for this, but ours closed some time ago.,

We have noticed this too. Tomatoes do not keep very long at all before developing white mould or going extremely squishy. Also, my OH bought a net of large oranges recently, when I took them out of the packaging one was rotten.
Potatoes are another commodity that doesn't seem to keep as well as it used to.

I have a weekly delivery from Tesco and haven’t experienced any of these problems. All fruit and veg are fresh and keep very well.

Homebase used to be worst for this, but ours closed some time ago
I used to rescue plants from Homebase, all they needed was some TLC.
Ours closed down too, unfortunately.

I've been known to water the plants from my own water bottle and move the cut flowers from dry buckets into ones with water in.

I agree about Homebase. They were a good source of half dead plants at bargain prices which just needed a little TLC. The plant stands in my local Morrisons yesterday were dreadful. Someone went to the trouble of growing those plants and they just let them die. Houseplants outside in a cold, cutting wind and bedding plants dead from thirst. The wastage makes me mad.

The few Waitrose vegetables which are unpackaged to me are suspiciously cold as though their last resting place was a freezer.

I live on my own, I do not want to buy eg a pack of 6-8 tomatoes but it is almost impossible to find those which are loose and look edible.

After two days in my fridge and mushrooms turn slimy.

Thanks for the link, Dickens. Interesting article.