EVERY LITTLE HELPS?
22 May 2007

Well well. I am sometimes told off by friends that I am 'Miss Precautionary Principle' - always careful and sceptical, never really believing anything before I've seen it with my own eyes. Neither do I usually trust random peoples 'common sense' - yes, i would wash my hands before making myself a sandwich. But that doesn't necessarily mean that everyone would do the same though.

Being Miss Precautionary Principle can be annoying to some people in my surroundings. But as a recent BBC documentary clearly shows, I am certainly on the safer side being Miss PP, than being Miss Leave it to Chance.

TESCO has 20 million customers and Sainsury's 16 million customers, a week in the UK.
Staff (junior as well as managers) working for both supermarkets were spotted by an undercover reporter doing the following:

- Changing the best before dates, or re-packaging old products
- Mixing up old deli products with new in order to give it a tastier appearance
- Selling old deli products, judging they still are good because 'they don't have a bad smell'
- 'Rehydrating' old fish
- Using the same piece of plastic to cover (bloody) meat night after night
- Leaving deep frozen products to thaw for hours before unpacking the delivery
- Faking freezer temperatures
- Not changing the cleaning water with which they clean the counters and cutting boards

I am not surprised at all. One manager apparently said that they should treat every penny 'as if it was their own', knowing that they are judged by how much food they manage to sell - in reality meaning that no, or only little food, should be thrown away. No matter if it has seen much better days. Another manager claimed that 'it is impossible for them always to do their job properly'. Imagine if a pilot would say that!

Food poisoning is horrible, but I'm not very surprised by these practices. After all, most smaller shops which genuinely make their livelihood from selling good food, have had to close due to TESCO and Sainsbury's. 'The big two' know they will keep their customers. Even after the BBC documentary.

The story can be accessed here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6676345.stm