Tackling Food Wastage

[bitchstewie]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/25/frenc...

I'd hope many of our supermarkets already do something like this as it seems like common sense rather than something which requires legislation.

[elster]

bhstewie said:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/25/frenc...

I'd hope many of our supermarkets already do something like this as it seems like common sense rather than something which requires legislation.

Most used to do it. I don't know anyone who does it now thanks to Food Standards.

[Axionknight]

elster said:

Most used to do it. I don't know anyone who does it now thanks to Food Standards.

Threat of legal action if the food is spoiled/bad and makes someone ill???

[elster]

Axionknight said:

elster said:

Most used to do it. I don't know anyone who does it now thanks to Food Standards.

Threat of legal action if the food is spoiled/bad and makes someone ill???

Yup, there is always be come back. Especially for things given away rather than paid for.

[wolves_wanderer]

When I was running a supermarket I gave a load of meat away to customers just before we closed on Christmas eve. We would have had to throw it away that night as the use by date was the day after boxing day. Got a warning for that one

[Rovinghawk]

I liked the bit in the article where he referred to low-paid public workers.

[Ian Geary]

Rovinghawk said:

I liked the bit in the article where he referred to low-paid public workers.

Any particular reason why you love that bit?

The article is about Paris, where I presume their public sector is still quite large, and presumably has a large number of undesirable / low skilled jobs, that people work full time in (about 30 hours a week in France?) but struggle to make ends meet in an expensive capital city.

As with France, this poses issues in London, which is why key worker housing policies were tried, to ensure a public sector workforce (police, NHS) could still live within 2 hours commute of where they worked, or avoid spending a punitive amount of salary on housing costs.

In the UK a lot of the low paid grotty jobs have been outsourced to the private sector (aka elderly care, cleaners and refuse collection, ironically a lot to the French firm SITA).

So I would think in the UK it should be more about targeting any low paid workers, regardless of their sector with help from a food waste scheme.

Trying to read into the article that it's saying public sector workers are / aren't better paid, or are paid too much / too little is a bit of a stretch.

If you want a thread about this, why not just start one? I'm sure NP&E won't notice another one.

Back on topic:

I see the downside of the store - if everyone waited until 21:59 to see if the store would just give food away, the store wouldn't ever sell anything. OK it's unlikely many would do this (my parents for example are always first through the door on Saturday) but margins must be tight in retail. The flip side is the extra PR the stores can get from this.

And stuff being free is damaging to a capitalist based economy though - i.e. Europe gives "surplus" food to Africa, the market price of food plummets (supply > demand) then suddenly all the subsistence farmers who rely on selling excess food for seeds/medicines etc. starve.

However, capitalism is also quite good at reducing waste. In this case, the economic answer would be to use different prices for produce the nearer it gets to being out of date - people with less money could then buy cheap for short shelf life, but this would be a lot of aggro for a store to operate.

I think this food waste reduction is a good scheme, but should be done via existing charities, and along side better education about cooking healthy meals cheaply.


Ian

[irocfan]

in theory a great and noble idea - in practice there would be a lot of pitfalls.

As mentioned above - throwing food out time 21.59 = loads of people crowding round the shop fighting for 'their share', maybe a substantial drop in food takings due to people (understandably) not wanting to pay for something that will be given away shortly, where's the incentive to provide for your family if stuff is given away? etc etc

[zetec]

There will soon be food shortages in France as supermarkets under order food so they don't have to give it away.

[bitchstewie]

zetec said:

There will soon be food shortages in France as supermarkets under order food so they don't have to give it away.

I could live with that in so much as it's criminal that so much is put on shelves that simply goes unsold.

[voyds9]

Ian Geary said:

As with France, this poses issues in London, which is why key worker housing policies were tried, to ensure a public sector workforce (police, NHS) could still live within 2 hours commute of where they worked, or avoid spending a punitive amount of salary on housing costs.

The policy was nothing to do with where key works could live, it was to do with where rich people wanted to live and still get their services.

[Rovinghawk]

Ian Geary said:

The article is about Paris, where I presume their public sector is still quite large

I used to live there. I don't have to presume, I know it's 'quite large'.

Ian Geary said:

presumably has a large number of undesirable / low skilled jobs, that people work full time in (about 30 hours a week in France?) but struggle to make ends meet in an expensive capital city.

I'm struggling with the concept of a low-paid public worker in the socialist utopia France tries to be, regardless of their short 'working' week. It's part of their economic structure. It's many of their small businessmen (employers) who struggle, not their public sector.

Please- carry on with your topic.

[loafer123]

If all meat had to be sold in vacuum packs, the sell by dates would be much longer and wastage would drop through the floor.

[anonymous-user]

I'm fully behind it - give it to the Sally or a proper charity - soup kitchens etc. No handouts from the store, as you'd get pyjama clad s hanging around, smoking fags that cost 7 quid a pack, yet wanting the food for free. Ever see the reduced counter at Tesco just before closing time on a Sunday? It's like a fking safari. All elbows and dropped consonants and BO and dribble.

I'd rather see the food trodden in to the dirt than see professional dolescum get it. If anything: "Oh, you work sir, and find it tricky to get down to the shops to avail yourself of the special offers before the "less fortunates" roll out of bed at 1pm and then rape the BOGOF deals? Here, have an hour on a Sunday morning reserved for more respectable members of society such as yourself. No sir, we don't care about their "ooman rights" either."

(That may have been a little tongue in cheek/provocative, but in a perfect world...?)

[Issi]

My local is also a carvery, and it's absolutely criminal to see the amount of food that they discard at the end of the evening. I've asked if there is anything that could be done, but the risks of somebody suing outweighs any charitable actions.

[richie99]

irocfan said:

in theory a great and noble idea - in practice there would be a lot of pitfalls.

As mentioned above - throwing food out time 21.59 = loads of people crowding round the shop fighting for 'their share', maybe a substantial drop in food takings due to people (understandably) not wanting to pay for something that will be given away shortly, where's the incentive to provide for your family if stuff is given away? etc etc

You mean like food banks?

[kev1974]

OpulentBob said:

I'm fully behind it - give it to the Sally or a proper charity - soup kitchens etc. No handouts from the store, as you'd get pyjama clad s hanging around, smoking fags that cost 7 quid a pack, yet wanting the food for free. Ever see the reduced counter at Tesco just before closing time on a Sunday? It's like a fking safari. All elbows and dropped consonants and BO and dribble.

I'd rather see the food trodden in to the dirt than see professional dolescum get it. If anything: "Oh, you work sir, and find it tricky to get down to the shops to avail yourself of the special offers before the "less fortunates" roll out of bed at 1pm and then rape the BOGOF deals? Here, have an hour on a Sunday morning reserved for more respectable members of society such as yourself. No sir, we don't care about their "ooman rights" either."

(That may have been a little tongue in cheek/provocative, but in a perfect world...?)

The poor guy with the yellow label machine in Tesco almost needs a taser to fight them off

[Oakey]

kev1974 said:

OpulentBob said:

I'm fully behind it - give it to the Sally or a proper charity - soup kitchens etc. No handouts from the store, as you'd get pyjama clad s hanging around, smoking fags that cost 7 quid a pack, yet wanting the food for free. Ever see the reduced counter at Tesco just before closing time on a Sunday? It's like a fking safari. All elbows and dropped consonants and BO and dribble.

I'd rather see the food trodden in to the dirt than see professional dolescum get it. If anything: "Oh, you work sir, and find it tricky to get down to the shops to avail yourself of the special offers before the "less fortunates" roll out of bed at 1pm and then rape the BOGOF deals? Here, have an hour on a Sunday morning reserved for more respectable members of society such as yourself. No sir, we don't care about their "ooman rights" either."

(That may have been a little tongue in cheek/provocative, but in a perfect world...?)

The poor guy with the yellow label machine in Tesco almost needs a taser to fight them off

I'd rather spend a little more than buy anything from that reduced counter and mingle with the people who congregate around it. I figure my dignity is worth that extra £2-£3

[loafer123]

Don't get me started on Tesco - evil buggers.

Had Gammon Steaks yesterday.

Tesco Finest was cheaper than their standard ones per kilo - guess which one had yellow "special offer" tags?

I go in there knowing they are trying to con me and do alot of mental arithmetic to beat them.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Ian Geary said:

Rovinghawk said:

I liked the bit in the article where he referred to low-paid public workers.

Any particular reason why you love that bit?

The article is about Paris, where I presume their public sector is still quite large, and presumably has a large number of undesirable / low skilled jobs, that people work full time in (about 30 hours a week in France?) but struggle to make ends meet in an expensive capital city.

As with France, this poses issues in London, which is why key worker housing policies were tried, to ensure a public sector workforce (police, NHS) could still live within 2 hours commute of where they worked, or avoid spending a punitive amount of salary on housing costs.

In the UK a lot of the low paid grotty jobs have been outsourced to the private sector (aka elderly care, cleaners and refuse collection, ironically a lot to the French firm SITA).

So I would think in the UK it should be more about targeting any low paid workers, regardless of their sector with help from a food waste scheme.

Trying to read into the article that it's saying public sector workers are / aren't better paid, or are paid too much / too little is a bit of a stretch.

If you want a thread about this, why not just start one? I'm sure NP&E won't notice another one.

Back on topic:

I see the downside of the store - if everyone waited until 21:59 to see if the store would just give food away, the store wouldn't ever sell anything. OK it's unlikely many would do this (my parents for example are always first through the door on Saturday) but margins must be tight in retail. The flip side is the extra PR the stores can get from this.

And stuff being free is damaging to a capitalist based economy though - i.e. Europe gives "surplus" food to Africa, the market price of food plummets (supply > demand) then suddenly all the subsistence farmers who rely on selling excess food for seeds/medicines etc. starve.

However, capitalism is also quite good at reducing waste. In this case, the economic answer would be to use different prices for produce the nearer it gets to being out of date - people with less money could then buy cheap for short shelf life, but this would be a lot of aggro for a store to operate.

I think this food waste reduction is a good scheme, but should be done via existing charities, and along side better education about cooking healthy meals cheaply.


Ian

I love in our local tesco, the reduced section putting out time. A flash mob of little old indian ladies appears from no where and picks it clean in seconds. Its an amazing sight. Those oldies can shift when a bargain is afoot! It'd be pandemonium if they did that with all of the stuff going "out of date" in the shop. Bedlam.