Wanted But Wasted

I have heard similar stories from my niece who used to work for large supermarket. I couldn't believe the stories she told me, so I went to the skip behind the supermarket to see for myself. Sure enough, there was a skip overflowing with meat, vegetables and bread. Not only do the supermarkets waste so mcuh stuff. My husband works for a computer firm and they throw out all the old computers and other related items. The staff are not allowed to take any of them home, though my husband is guilty of taking an old laptop which he gave to my niece. I can understand about the food, as like you say, the store could be sued if anybody got sick, and there are lots of people out there who are just looking for the opportunity to sue somebody. However, I think the computer firm and others like it could donate their unwanted goods to schools etc.

The trouble with things nowadays, is that the threat of litigation is getting stronger every day in the UK, so I think it is quite possible that the Manager was telling the truth. I know that this year, they would not even allow Christmas decorations in some offices, in case people were hurt by them and sued the company! I know they did used to give out food from M & S, because I had a Saturday job there many years ago, but I'm not sure if they still do, which is shame. I don't like waste myself ether. I always try to use everything up at home, and throw away very little.

I think that is terrible , what about some homeless people who rake in rubbish bins would that not be more of a danger to them , If the had a certain time of night to just put it outside even and let people take it , or just before the store closed give it away , This world is going mad xxxx

Marks and Spencers used to give their out of date sandwiches to the Salvation Army so I think the supermarket may well have been lying to you as they felt guilty about it too. Perhaps you should go to the papers about it now, it would still be an interesting story and I bet it is still happening.

I've heard about this too. There are groups that talk about folks salvaging things from dumsters, even food. Grocery stores are very careful about this kind of thing exactly because of the legal issues. Even taken from a dumpster they have some liability. Some places have the decency to put the food in bags and place it by the dumpster. Folks who need it can grab it. I've also heard that stores will destroy usable products before discarding them. Walmart does this.

They may have been lying to you. They may not have. I guess it depends on the local laws. Or maybe they were just way too paranoid. I work for Pizza Hut and I've substitute worked at a couple other stores. All the PH's in our area give away at least some of their waste. My store has a buffet every weekday, and we give our left over buffet pizza to the local senior center for their pizza day. Other PH's cook off their leftover pan dough (no toppings, just dough) and give it to food pantries and shelters instead of throwing it away. I think places that toss leftovers or "expired" food do that out of fear rather than any actual law.

The amount of wasted food and goods here in the US is positively ghastly! In the past, most people would utilise food stuffs, such as that bread you mentioned, in "day old" sales, which were really a boon to the poor... Nowadays, they chuck it out without a second thought. Although, there are some groups like Second Harvest, and others who reuse and recycle, there aren't nearly enough to even make a significant dent in the amount that's wasted...

i think throwing food that is out of date is a better option than donating it to people with no food if any one got sick by eating that food and if any one die then you will feel guilty of the think what you had did and you could not forgive yourself i think if a person dyeing with out your involvement is better than person dyeing with your involvement

I remember watching a programme not so long ago that showed how you could eat everyday for free in London. This bloke went around all the bins where supermarkets and restaurants had thrown out packaged foods that was perfectly alright to eat. What he found and ate was better than what I cook most days. This made me realise the amount of waste that does go on. The supermarkets will throw out so much that is at the sell by date or one day over. I must admit I used to always stick by the sell-by-date until I met a woman who reminded me that years ago there was no such thing and our noses can tell us just as well if something is off or not. So now I am not so cautious, and I am still here without suffering any food poisoning. It is disgusting when people live on the breadline and so much is being wasted.

Our local Tesco, Morrisons, Safeway, Sainsburys and Iceland all reduce their prices for all fresh food, meats, bread, cakes etc. which is on its last day of sale. I have seen fresh foods in Aldi and Netto reduced to 1p on a sunday afternoon. When I worked in Tesco on a Sunday there used to be a staff shop out the back where we could buy these goods for just a few pence, There was always plenty of staff waiting to take it home, we were not allowed to throw any in the bins out back as it encouraged rats. Any out of date milk was sent back where it came from, but this hardly ever happened, they were very good on not over ordering. These days a bakery department would be on a strict budget so wouldn't over cook so much and have less waste to sell cheaply and most big stores are open 24 hours so all would be sold..

I know around here not only is the liability an issue, so is the tax write off, they get more back writing it off as a loss, then they do writing it off as a donation.

I had the same experience when I was working at a fast food chain. I was asking the manager not to throw away the left over burgers and spags and just give them to the the shelter for boys that is near our restaurant. She had the same answer, that it is against the company rules and other people may get sick.

u can't give it to poor people cause u know food poisoning. if something wrong happens people are gonna sue the market and its director... i understand the wasted food can be put in a good use but there is always a problem like this...

When it is a place where you work..nothing can be done by you..cause then your work/job will be at stake.. So maybe what you can do is allocate a part of your income to charity where you can donate food to old,infirm,orphan,disabled people.. Or you can convince and change the mindset of your boss..first of all there is a problem in our mind..if that gets cleared..then automatically our opponent agrees our point..Try this..and u will definitely get success..

I help run a community meal in my area when we first started 2 years ago i approached a local grocery store about some donations for it. I had worked for this company before and new how much was wasted. I talked to the manager and asked him about the meat that would get thrown out at the end of the day. He agreed to freeze it for our use as long as it was checked before each use. We ran the meal for almost a year with no problem. Then a new manager came and it was all stopped in a day. He would not give us the meat or the boxes of food that got opened from box cutters or whatever. He was afraid of being sued so all of it had to go in the garbage. I basically pleaded with him not to stop it we were feeding anywhere from 50 to 100 ppl every week and this was our main donations. He just flat out refused he was worried about himself. So we were stuck for a while but with prayer and other community organizations we are still going strong after two years. But i still can't help but think how much is wasted each night and how many of our guest go home after the meal and are hungry till the next Tuesday. Its just plain nuts.

Things like that make me angry too. Couldn't the supermarket make an anonymous donation? And really, how likely is it that a homeless person can afford a lawyer to sue the supermarket? Sad - but true. I have no idea how much food is wasted daily - but I'm sure the figures are staggering. People go out to eat - send their food back or don't eat all of it. That's waste. People don't eat food in their fridge before it goes bad - that's waste. A lot of people I know will throw a fruit or vegetable away at the first spot. Why not cut the spot out and then eat the rest? Food sits on docks in foreign countries -never making it to the hungry because of politcal b.s. It's terrible!

That's really a shame that the bakery would throw the food away rather than donate it to someone who is needy. In our area, we have many local bakeries, restaurants, and other companies who donate leftover food and meals from catering events to the shelters and to various organizations. We have a residence home for AIDS patients that gets donations from the best restaurants in town, and we have several lunch programs and drop in centers for the homeless and HIV patients that receive donations on a regular basis. As long as the food is stored properly, it has never been a problem. The agency accepting the food donation generally has policies to ensure that the food is handled and stored properly. It's a shame when people use the fear of being sued as an EXCUSE to help others who are in need. It's sickening, actually. What these corporate people don't realize is that the homeless could just as easily go through the dumpsters where the food is thrown away (and they probably do).

This seems to be a very common practice! A very unfortunate one. I think the very least a supermarket of bakery should do is mark down the leftover items a couple of hours before the store closes. There would also be the option of selling some things discounted as "day old".

I agree with you whole heatidly about the situation! There are many homeless charities that would have taken those left-overs and distributed them Like you I hate to see good food go to waste. Lynn-Marie

Unfortunately many times these shop owners worry about getting sued if someone eats an out of date product and gets sick. I have been homeless and would have eaten it gladly