Hygiene In Supermarkets

[Si Hunt]

This is mainly about a TV programme I saw last night (I can't remember what it was called, but it was on about 9pm) but I thought I'd put the thread here to provoke a general "Do you trust them?" debate about supermarkets.

Did anyone see the show? It was a documentary in which two reporters went 'undercover' in Tesco and Sainsbury's to expose what goes on behind the scenes - filming 'faking' of temperature logs, someone using a fish knife to open a drain and meat being put back on sale when it had been found to be re-defrosted, partially cooked or out of date.

I have to begin by saying that despite all this, I wasn't absolutely shocked by the documentary's findings and a lot of it did seem to be trying to make a "sensation" out of not very much. For example, there was one clip where the reporter was clearly being SHOWN how to fill out a log, but it was branded as the results being "made up". Also, this may be just me, but I wasn't shocked that everything wasn't kept sterilised and immaculate - these places are only manned by humans, and 'don't give a shite' part-time workers to boot. I think you'd have to be pretty naieve not to expect hygene to be a bit dodgy.

That said, the factory where they make the ready meals was HORRID as was the slaughterhouse with its open bins full of chicken carcasses.

So did anyone see his programme, and has it put you off shopping at Tesco or Sainsburys?

If you didn't see it, do you trust the supermarkets with their hygene or does it simply not bother you?

Si.

[Carol Baynes]

Ewww...a pile of chicken carcasses sounds revolting to an old vegetarian like me!

The thought of supermarket hygiene has crossed my mind from time to time. To be honest I'd sooner be shopping somewhere else, but they're such an ingrained part of culture these days that it's difficult not to. There should be stricter controls over hygiene though- get the inspectors in more often, and lets name and shame!

[SiHart]

I'm not shocked. After hearing the horror stories Steve has told me about working on the deli counter, I can believe anything! That's why we don't ever buy anything from the Deli.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

In one memorable bit, a woman wandered over from the hot chicken counter, picked up a fish knife and began cutting up some fresh liver! E-Coli-tastic!

There was a bit where the health inspector was visiting - the manager at Tesco knew in advance, and proudly explained how it would all be clean and above board that day.

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

Having worked in a supermarket for three months, I've experienced what it's like. I once wiped my arse on a pork chop when we ran out of loo roll and slipped it back on the Deli counter.

One of those statements may not be true.

[Rob McCow]

Hygene in Supermarkets may not be perfect - but people aren't dying in their millions, are they? Although the potential is there.

The Deli counter - ah, what a place! The incident I remember best occurred on the day we were tidying up the counter. Yes, the counters do get cleaned up, occasionally. All we were really doing was moving the big cheeses around. There was one paticularly large, round cheese in the middle that was whole and looked fresh. We picked it up and it was unexpectedly light. Turning it over, I saw that the whole underside of the cheese had been entirely eaten out by mould. It was just a hollow shell. Yuk!

[Si Hunt]

The "well it can't be too bad, people arn't dying everywhere" argument was tackled by the program last night (did anyone else see it?)- they said that 1 in 10 people experienced food poisoning every year, and the cause was mostly never identified...

Something that did annoy me about the supermarkets, perhaps actually more than the hygene business, was that people who had got ill and taken the supermarkets to court had faced 'temperature check' records as a defence, when this program showed they were frequently just made up by staff too busy to fill them in properly. That's just damn illegal, especially when it must costs a lot of money to try and sue a supermarket. It would be bad enough to get ill, but then to lose your court case because the supermarket effectively fabricated evidence in its defence...

Si.

[Trudi G]

This doesn't just happen in supermarkets though - i've had to take back chicken pies to Greggs that were lukewarm - and explain to the staff that their food has to be kept hot or cold, but not in between because of the risk of food poisoning.
I don't think the staff get properly trained in food hygene.

[Paul Monk]

Quite frankly this is what you'd expect when you pay the workers crap money. I wasn't shocked by it at all I have to say.

[Si Hunt]

There was a bit where a worker bloke said they were pressured to keep up sales, at the expense of hygene, when there was snowy weather. It just annoys me that despite earning billions in profit each year, the supermarkets can't afford to enforce a better standard of cleanliness, hire better (more expensive) workers or take a bit of a cash hit when it's snowy without lowering themselves to forcing poorer standards from their workforce.

Si.

[stuartdg]

I work in a supermarket and they have majorly clamped down on hygiene both on and off the counters

[Rob McCow]

I work in a supermarket and they have majorly clamped down on hygiene both on and off the counters

I hope that doesn't mean they're clamping down against hygiene...

[Darren]

I shop at the Woodford Tesco.

Asda have just been fined 80,000 for selling lamb chops which were 31 days out of date.

[Carol Baynes]

I shop at the Woodford Tesco.

Asda have just been fined 80,000 for selling lamb chops which were 31 days out of date.

That's a full month that the lamb could have been prancing around the fields, oblivious to it's future destiny!

[Captain Tancredi]

The only bad experience I've had personally was buying a Safeway pizza about six years ago which, when I took it out of the box, was mouldy- it had obviously thawed out at some point, been left somewhere and refrozen.

For all this talk of supermarket hygiene, they're still probably more likely to have a proper hygiene regime than small local butchers (who seem to be responsible for most of the E coli-type outbreaks recently)- or indeed market traders, whose produce spends most of the day in the open air for passing insects to tapdance over and any Tom, Dick or Harry to pick up, squeeze and put back. The big supermarket chains also have reputations to lose, and know that if they're fined for breaches of hygiene regulations, they'll be hit hard.

[Richard Beeby]

I watched this programme and nodded the whole way though knowing that most of it was probably true as it certainly happened in the supermarkets I worked for. Im glad that Ive escaped now!

The fabrication of temperature and freshness records was an everyday occurrence. I still ask people how a piece of paper used to record temperatures and freshness that is kept behind a fresh food department like a deli or butchery can be pristine, white and clean!! Its got to be impossible for anything to remain behind there for a week and not get splattered with some food or blood. Just ask my cookery books!!

In one memorable bit, a woman wandered over from the hot chicken counter, picked up a fish knife and began cutting up some fresh liver! E-Coli-tastic!

Youre not very likely to pass e-coli from cooked chicken to raw liver as the bacteria in the chicken would have been killed during the cooking process (E-coli in chicken isnt much of a concern, campylobacter is present in about 40% of chickens but is killed at relatively low temperatures).
Its also prudent to remember that food borne illnesses (food poisoning) only happens when you eat food that has been contaminated with pathogens that that cause illness which isnt going to processed/cooked before eating. Proper cooking of meat and fish will destroy most of these pathogens. So its cheeses, sauces, pates etc. that are at most risk.

whose produce spends most of the day in the open air for passing insects to tap dance over

In what conditions do you think produce grows? Its not in an insect free environment? This is why you are advised to wash all fruit and vegetables before consumption!

[Ralph]

I went into Sainsburys yesterday but rushed passed the Deli counter - I blame Steve for causing me undue trauma on this thread.

I need counselling before I can buy a quarter pound of stuffed olives!