18 December 2010

Disgusting peaches at Coles Chisholm

| Monster of the Deep
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peaches but not as we know them

I’ve become used to buying mouldy onions, rancid potatoes, fruit that rots within two days of purchase, and wilted/slimy vegetables. But today when we visited Coles at the Chisholm shops I encountered a display of rotting peaches covered in insects. They were flying all over the place and crawling on other fruit nearby. About 50% of the peaches in the display looked like this.

Please excuse the colours in the photo, it was taken with my old mobile phone. But despite the non-peachy colours, you can see how gross, brown and rotten that fruit is.

Now, I know Chisholm and surrounds are a lower income suburbs, as posted about on the RiotACT earlier, but are we really expected to buy this crap, let alone eat it?

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deezagood said :

miz said :

There’s a good fruit and veg shop at Chisholm – go there, instead!

Miz – I would have agreed with you once. The bad news is that the fruit shop @ Chisholm has recently changed management, and the quality is woeful. I literally could not find one semi-decent piece of fruit there during my last visit. I used to get all of my fruit and veg there, but not any more. I suspect they’ll go out of business very shortly, as many of my friends have made the same observation and no longer shop there.

I have to agree with this. They used to have great produce, but not so any more.

“The idea that the major supermarkets sell sub-standard fruit and veg is urban myth i’m afraid. It’s kind of cute and cuddly to think otherwise but the reasons the majors will always be better include;

turnover, they sell tons of the stuff, it never sits on the shelf long

quality, their market dominance means they can bully suppliers for best of the best, woolies doesn’t buy carrots that aren’t perfectly straight, crisp and uniform length

logistics, the majors get to point of sale faster, some may be stored for out of season sale but that’s o.k.

price, obviously

wastage, the majors can afford to discard ageing fruit and veg and absord the cost.”

Hahaha! It’s not the shelf that’s the problem, mate. It’s the eons spent out back and in massive distribution warehouses. You want fresh, you don’t go to a supermarket. You go to a greengrocer!

As to quality, the carrots that look the straightest aren’t necessarily the best. Neither are the biggest strawberries the best, nor the most perfectly oval potatoes. Ask any home gardener. The best fruit and veg is the freshest and (a little out there, I know) the best *tasting*.

Stuff doesn’t necessarily get to point-of-sale faster. It gets to distribution warehouses faster. It then gets doled out over God knows how long.

Low price does not necessarily equal high quality.

Yes, they can afford more wastage. They can also afford to sell crap because people will generally suck it up in the quest for convenience.

When I lived in Sydney I used to shop at Flemington Markets. Most of the stuff there (on Saturday’s open-to-the-public days) was picked earlier the same day by the farmer who was selling it to you. I gotta tell you, it didn’t even bear any resemblance to the crap sold at supermarkets. Perhaps you don’t do a lot of fruit and veg shopping, but when you buy from a supermarket it doesn’t last long. When I bought, for example, pak choy from Flemington, I could use it any time in a week. When I buy pak choy from any supermarket anywhere, it’s a strictly same-day affair. By the following day it’s starting to go yellow. Presumably this means either a) it’s already a week old, or b) it’s been appallingly stored.

Canberran’s are turning into a bunch of whining little bitches and I’m sick and tired of it………………….damn it

troll-sniffer12:04 pm 20 Dec 10

Hey JB~!

Along with the Mully Cup, can we have an new award? Biggest fricken storm in the smallest fricken teacup?

Is it becoming a normal thing for people to notice something really petty that they could easily fix by contacting the nearest responsible person, and broadcast to the world that this terrible event, an event likely to cause carnage in society if left unchecked, could consume society as we know it if something isn’t done about it?

Well, something could have been done about it without wasting perfectly good pixels on my screen with such an inane and pointless post. Alert the nearest employee… or if that’s too difficult, mention to the checkout chick on the way out that there’s some rotting peaches and someone should take a look at it. Not too hard. Hmmmm… another business venture coming up for CeeJ, ‘Positive Action Modules for Whingers’, a course how to do something about a problem rather than just whinge like a spoilt child, three weeks, $2200.

Chances are all that happened is something went wrong between supplier and store, some pimply faced teenager stacked the fruit on the display, couldn’t be stuffed noticing it was rotting. Easily fixed – tell one of the staff politely, if you don’t get the desired response ask to see the manager and tell them.

shadow boxer2:16 pm 19 Dec 10

The idea that the major supermarkets sell sub-standard fruit and veg is urban myth i’m afraid. It’s kind of cute and cuddly to think otherwise but the reasons the majors will always be better include;

turnover, they sell tons of the stuff, it never sits on the shelf long

quality, their market dominance means they can bully suppliers for best of the best, woolies doesn’t buy carrots that aren’t perfectly straight, crisp and uniform length

logistics, the majors get to point of sale faster, some may be stored for out of season sale but that’s o.k.

price, obviously

wastage, the majors can afford to discard ageing fruit and veg and absord the cost.

Unfortunately you’re always going to have some bad produce, but you will encounter it more often in supermarkets given that it is generally delivered in the same trays that are used in displays, rather than being packed by hand onto the displays as the fruit shops would.

It’s this time saving measure that does eliminate quality control somewhat. For me personally it doesn’t reflect so much on the quality or standards of the store, but each to their own.

For the record, I work for the competition too.

Fruit goes off quicker if customers squeeze it and then put it back especially avocados.
I say keep your hands off my firm ripe peaches.

Rangi said :

The fruit and veg from Aldi seams to last longer

chemicals…

Monster – it may not be your job but it is not hard to have a quiet word with a supervisor to let them know of the problem. You don’t have to make a scene like MrsD1ngo suggested. It is wrong that they didn’t notice such an obvious problem – the flies should have been a give away – but it is a bit busy for them at the moment. Personally I haven’t had any dramas with fruit I have purchased there going off any quicker than any other retailer.

The time it would have taken to say something would have been far less than the time it has taken to post and respond to this message.

miz said :

There’s a good fruit and veg shop at Chisholm – go there, instead!

Miz – I would have agreed with you once. The bad news is that the fruit shop @ Chisholm has recently changed management, and the quality is woeful. I literally could not find one semi-decent piece of fruit there during my last visit. I used to get all of my fruit and veg there, but not any more. I suspect they’ll go out of business very shortly, as many of my friends have made the same observation and no longer shop there.

Monster of the Deep11:13 pm 18 Dec 10

MrsD1ngo said :

Before I stopped shopping at the Hyperdome I quite enjoyed making a loud scene about out of date yoghurt on the shelves.

I’m not that kind of pushy person, I’m afraid.

miz said :

There’s a good fruit and veg shop at Chisholm – go there, instead!

Agreed – I bought some lovely little nectarines there recently, they were great quality, and some zucchinis and various other things. Had a bit of a spree because it all looked so nice!

georgesgenitals said :

Maybe someone needs to really show those bastards who’s boss, and take a crap in the middle of the peaches.

YEAH!!

HA – I like your style.

2604 said :

Rangi said :

The fruit and veg from Aldi seams to last longer

+1 for this. It is consistently better quality than you get at Coles or Woolies, and probably about half the price of a place like the Fyshwick markets.

I’m a little leery of Aldi. The very day Aldi opened up in the Canberra Centre my significant other and I went and checked it out, along with the other new stores nearby. We were looking for some ingredients for dinner, and picked up a punnet of cherry tomatoes… They were covered in green mould :/ Haven’t returned there since, quite apart from the fact that it’s a long way away from our house.

Rangi said :

The fruit and veg from Aldi seams to last longer

+1 for this. It is consistently better quality than you get at Coles or Woolies, and probably about half the price of a place like the Fyshwick markets.

We paid $1.49 per kilo for Bananas at Aldi today. And a banana is a banana is a banana AFAIC.

Clearly differing perspectives here rioters. Obviously no one is going to buy something so rotten.

Going out on a limb but maybe “Monsters of the Deep”‘s point here is that no retailer should be selling rotten produce – I saw the same thing in a Woollies, insects and all. “Fresh food people” my ass!

Too true though – want the good stuff make the extra effort and head to a dedicated green grocer. Vote with your feet. Wouldn’t expect the under paid staff to care too much.

bd84 said :

The shock an horror of finding one rotting peach in a display in a supermarket. Instead of taking a photo of it, perhaps you could have rubbed your 2 brain cells together and pointed it out to a staff member so they could remove the offending item. I have seen plenty of fruit and veg in both supermarkets and other fruit shops that have looked terrible, there is veryt little difference between the two.

Why should a customer have to point out fruit in that state? Those shops are always staffed well enough for someone to have noticed that!!! Taking a photo is well and truly standard fair on RA… as are personal insults and typos such as yours… If Coles are prepared to place that fruit out, they should be prepared to cop some flack…

georgesgenitals7:53 pm 18 Dec 10

Maybe someone needs to really show those bastards who’s boss, and take a crap in the middle of the peaches.

YEAH!!

MrsD1ngo said :

I have shopped weekly at Coles Chisholm for the last six months and find it hard to believe.

Pictures don’t lie, I’m afraid!

I still don’t have to believe it.

And what’s wrong with alerting a staff member to remove something? Before I stopped shopping at the Hyperdome I quite enjoyed making a loud scene about out of date yoghurt on the shelves.

There’s a good fruit and veg shop at Chisholm – go there, instead! Also probably explains poor quality fruit at the Coles too – it would’sit’ longer than the lovely stuff at the fruit and veg.

Did you make a complaint?

Monster of the Deep6:59 pm 18 Dec 10

bd84 said :

one rotting peach in a display

If you actually read what I posted you’d see that the majority of the fruit was rotten and swarming with insects. I didn’t point it out to a staff member because that’s not my job, nor did I want to bother with the resulting drama. I just wanted to get my bread and milk and leave.

MrsD1ngo said :

I have shopped weekly at Coles Chisholm for the last six months and find it hard to believe.

Pictures don’t lie, I’m afraid!

I have shopped weekly at Coles Chisholm for the last six months and find it hard to believe. Have only good things to say about their fresh produce, meat and deli areas. Used to go to Woolies at Erindale and both Coles and Woolies at the Hyperdome but meat and milk would be off within two days. Have not had a problem with Chisholm. Always lots of staff on registers and the deli too.

The shock an horror of finding one rotting peach in a display in a supermarket. Instead of taking a photo of it, perhaps you could have rubbed your 2 brain cells together and pointed it out to a staff member so they could remove the offending item. I have seen plenty of fruit and veg in both supermarkets and other fruit shops that have looked terrible, there is veryt little difference between the two.

dannybear said :

I’d it eat, maybe the manuka woolworths would be more to your liking?

There hasn’t been a Woolworths at Manuka for around 10 years.. there is a shitty Coles there too.

Try the farmers markets at EPIC or Choku Baijo in North Lyneham. It’ll make you realise what crap we’re being sold by the supermarkets.

The fruit and veg from Aldi seams to last longer

It’s not like Coles is the only place you can buy food. If you don’t like it, shop somewhere else.

…the “buy on Saturday, rotten by Wednesday” phenomenon of the major grocery stores is the main reason we now (mainly) buy through Veggies to your Door. They guarantee their goods for two weeks. We haven’t yet had to see how good their commitment to that guarantee is. A little more expensive, but we certainly don’t have the waste…

I’d it eat, maybe the manuka woolworths would be more to your liking?

You do realise no one is forcing you to buy them. You do have the right to shop elswhere

Hint: Fyshwick Markets

I think the big supermarkets are just relying on peoples laziness and selling them substandard produce that they buy cheap. I prefer to get my fruit and veg from one of the fresh food markets or grow my own. In other places I’ve lived they had local growers markets which always had some top quality fresh food. I’m sure there would be something like that around Canberra.

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