Supermarkets throwing away 2million tons of food a year

SUPERMARKETS are throwing away nearly two million tons of fresh food every year…as people in poor countries starve.

A Sunday Mirror investigation has found major chains dump enough food to feed 6.3million people a year.

And our check of supermarket bins found that much of the grub they chuck out is not even past its sell-by date.

This week Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged families to be more frugal and not waste their food – but our survey shows how stores are the real villains.

Last night Friends of the Earth called for tougher measures from the Government to force supermarkets to clean up their act.

Campaigner Viki Hird praised the Sunday Mirror’s investigation and said: “Supermarkets are falling over themselves to be seen as the greenest – but this is a wake-up call to the scandalous truth behind their claims.

“The true cost of this waste is passed on to customers in prices and the environment in landfill, while the supermarkets’ profits continue to soar.”

The average person needs to eat around 700lbs of food a year.

According to a report by the Sustainable Development Commission, supermarkets throw away 1.6million tons of food annually.

But campaigners believe the real figure is nearer two million – and this is backed up by our survey which found stores were not even following their own guidelines on waste. Our investigation found food thrown out with two or three years still to run on sell-by dates, as well as perfectly edible fresh fruit, vegetables and eggs.

Workers told our reporters there were simply not enough staff to reduce the prices, so it was sent to landfill, often still wrapped in plastic – which will stop it rotting and take decades to decompose.

We visited a dozen stores over several nights last week to check what was being thrown away and discovered hundreds of pounds worth of food dumped.

At a Sainsbury’s superstore next to the Dome in Greenwich, South East London – the chain’s flagship “environmentally-friendly” shop with its own wind turbines – staff said it was standard practice to throw away food before its sell-by date. And they’re not even allowed to take it home.

One said: “Someone just stands there and throws it into the skip. We wish we could buy it – but we’re not allowed.”

Pointing to meat on the “reduced” shelf, he added: “Come midnight, anything that hasn’t been sold will get taken off the shelf... if it’s out of date it will be logged on the computer, put against our losses, then in the skip.”

At a nearby Iceland store there were two punnets of in-date strawberries and a pot of fresh double- cream, as well as 20 boxes of Victoria sponge, and tinned sweetcorn with a “best before” of August 2011. Thirty boxes of Terry’s All Gold chocolates were still in their delivery boxes and had not even been put on the shelves.

Four-pint bottles of milk with nine days still to run had been thrown out, along with nine cans of cola with a date stamp of April 2009.

At Tesco stores in Enfield, North London, and St Albans, Herts, we found 20 boxes of frozen baguettes which do not expire until February 2009. There were also cheese twists stamped December 2008, and 12 boxes of cinnamon rolls “best before” February next year, along with fresh apples and yoghurts with almost a week to run before they should be taken off the shelves. At the Co-op in Sherwood, Notts, we found lettuces, Dairylea Munchables, rolls, peaches, bananas, carrots, crisps and apple pie – all within date.

At all of the stores we found food dumped in bins due to expire that day, but with no attempt made to reduce the price for customers.

An Iceland spokesman said: “We would like to thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please be assured we will undertake a full internal investigation.”

And a spokesman for the Co-op said: “Food waste costs money and at all times we aim to keep this to an absolute minimum.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “We’re perplexed... stores are monitored on their waste every week.

“Any issues would quickly be dealt with by managers.”

s.boniface@sundaymirror.co.uk