Supermarkets ‘days apart in terms of freshness’

Online food deliveries last longest from Tesco, staying in date for a week and a half, survey of six chains shows

SHOPPERS looking for the freshest deliveries should order from Tesco over Waitrose, a Which? study has found.

The consumer champion discovered that groceries lasted on average two and a half days longer when purchased from Tesco when it tested deliveries from a range of large supermarkets.

The findings come as Which? also found some supermarket deliveries included damaged items or produce that was about to go off, such as cream and meat.

Following the findings, Waitrose said it trained its workers to pick products with the longest best-before dates when packing deliveries. The results come as Which? conducted a series of “mystery shopper” purchases online from six major supermarkets: Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Ocado.

Testers ordered more than 1,000 groceries looking at the same 16 perishable items across the different services.

Which? then totalled up the number of hours left from the time of the arrival until midnight on the use-by date to calculate the average freshness of the deliveries.

The watchdog found Tesco came top with its items lasting on average 11 days after delivery, whereas Waitrose ranked bottom of the six with an average of just 8.6 days.

Asda was found to have the second freshest produce with its items lasting on average 10.5 days and the online service Ocado came third with 10.4 days.

The testers also found stark differences in the use-by dates of similar products purchased from different supermarkets. For instance, the longest lasting mince came from Asda, with 13.4 days to eat it, compared with just 2.1 days for a packet of mince from Morrisons.

Likewise, the freshest semi-skimmed milk was bought online from Asda with 18.3 days left before it went off, whereas testers received one bottle from Waitrose with just 4.7 days left.

Which? also received some products that were already beyond their bestbefore dates in two separate pots of cream from Sainsbury’s and Ocado.

Three items from Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s were delivered on their use-by dates and separate packets of minced beef from Asda, Ocado and Waitrose “appeared to have gone off ” despite technically being within their best-before dates.

Harry Rose, editor of Which? magazine, said: “Our analysis shows that when it comes to delivering fresh food and drink there can be a significant difference between online supermarkets. Shockingly, our mystery shoppers found some items that were already out of date when delivered, as well as groceries that appeared to have gone off before their use-by dates had even passed.

“Use-by dates are about safety and shoppers should not risk eating out-ofdate food. Anyone who is unhappy with the freshness of their online groceries should complain to their supermarket, or switch to a supermarket with better policies on food freshness if possible.”

Another issue uncovered by Which? was items being delivered in damaged or compromised packaging. Ten such products were delivered in a state that testers deemed not safe to eat, including some bacon rashers from Morrisons and an Ocado pasta salad which had its plastic film torn.

Following the exercise, a spokesman for Waitrose said: “We always train our Partners to pick products with the longest best before date for online deliveries – we’re sorry this fell short of our high standards and are committed to making this better for our customers.

“From time to time we sometimes shorten the date codes on certain fresh produce to ensure it’s at optimum quality – so this may also have been a factor behind the results.”

Sainsbury’s said the mystery shopper results were “at odds” with research Which? had carried out earlier in the year which dubbed the chain the UK’S “favourite online retailer”.

Morrisons said it was “disappointed” with the results of the test and was looking into how to improve its delivery process.

A spokesman for Ocado added: “We work hard to ensure our supply chain is efficient and runs smoothly in order to deliver the freshest food with the longest shelf life, while maintaining the lowest levels of food waste in the industry.”

‘Anyone who is unhappy with the freshness of their online groceries should complain to their supermarket’