Food waste?
I do not work for any food retailer..

Please stop blaming them for having to dispose of out of date goods what would appear to be such a ridiculous and uncharitable manner.

It is the Health and Safety civil servants who are 'protecting us from ourselves' that are to blame!
(Outtheresomewhere, Sun 26 Oct 2008, 14:10, 6 replies)

Codswallop.
I reckon it is the fear of Health and Safety civil servants, rather than those people themselves.

My reasoning is based upon these:

www.hse.gov.uk/myth/

And it meets the end of being inconvenienced by having to deal with dirty homeless folk.
(Captain Skippy pooed in a bag and left it on your doorstep, Sun 26 Oct 2008, 16:28, closed)

They develop the culture
Unfortunately the HSE despite its holier than thou website has encouraged a culture in business and public life where every needs to be safer than they need to be rather than be sorry.

I'd rather they just left us to it, Darwin had the right idea.
(Outtheresomewhere, Sun 26 Oct 2008, 16:41, closed)

Sorry, but that's bollocks.
It's been used as a convenient excuse for years. It's just now that the HSE are starting to fight back, and they are to blame only for being tardy in that respect.

The real culprits are those that have used it as an excuse in the first place.
(Captain Skippy pooed in a bag and left it on your doorstep, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 19:25, closed)

The blame is shared, but mostly with retailers.
I do work for a food retailer.

Some things have to be binned for safety because they spoil if you so much as look at them funny (eg. certain seafoods).

Others are binned to protect revenue (don't give things to people if you can force them to buy it instead, eg. old-style stock lines).

Others are binned because it would be inconvenient to process them. Resources (staff time / lorry fuel / warehouse space) spent processing such items, all hurts their bottom line.

And yes, some are just binned because managers aren't always that bright. There is a fear of liability and negative PR, and it's easier to say "chuck it" than to exercise judgement.

Naturally, it looks better to blame it all on H+S restrictions.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Sun 26 Oct 2008, 19:33, closed)

Still not sure that explains the whole "soak it with detergent so if tramps eat it they die" thing.

(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 13:24, closed)

The supermarkets are the ones who set the actual use by dates.
and they do so in a ridiculous manner. Eggs have about another week on top of what the supermarkets say, and don't get me started on use by dates on cheese.

It's cheese!! It's already off!! THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT FUCKING CHEESE!!
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 13:22, closed)