People scrounging (or stealing) food from supermarket bins

[Andy 10]

The problem why food isn't given away is because of being sued. I know Sainsbury's send waste food for animal feed. I used to work at the moor one before the bins were secured down and it was like a party time at nights with people going in the bins. Used to guve them a good shower of water after all they were all on private land and should pay for food. We all do!

 

You sound like a lovely person

 

Was it an official instruction from Sainsburys Head Office to do this?

 

I hope you never find yourself in such a desperate position. They say most of us are only three pay days from homelessness....

 

The good news is that the supermarkets are getting better at directing their surplus food to charities such as http://www.fareshare.org.uk/ but fresh items which are past their use by date will always end up in the bin. Whilst for legal reasons the store might not be able to give these away, I do not see the harm in them being put in the bin, which is clearly marked as unfit for human consumption. If someone takes the food out and eats it then the supermarket shouldn't be liable for any consequences.

[flatstanley 10]

keep seeing illegal branded about, its criminal that food that could be eaten is being thrown out.

[focusedhypno 10]

As a student back in the day I often took food that had been put in supermarket bins.They throw the food away because it reaches sell by date.This is not the date it is off, just when it can't be sold. It is a scandal that this food is wasted and usually ends up in landfill (with bleach on it according to one post earlier!)

The revulsion that some are expressing for people who eat out of date food (either through having different ethics to the mainstream or though having no choice because of their financial situation) should be directed at the supermarkets who wantonly dispose of food that could still give someone sustenance.

The world produces ample food to feed everyone on it but because of actions of the supermarkets like locking up food so it can be thrown away is a scandal.

Chances are those eating out of date food aren't going to be shopping in those supermarkets anyway so it's not like they are losing custom anyway!

[dutch 68]

Having lived in several other countries I can only say one thing.

 

England is oh so conservative paranoid and worried about many things including the edibility of food sold in the supermarkets. Many laws and regulations are overconservative just in case to be sure and most products will probably be fine for a few more days if you use them same day.

We buy things in supermarket, keep them in fridge and cook them later in the week.

Edited December 1, 2013 by dutch

[Guest]

Supermarkets should make the effort to offer their out of date stuff to the salvation army or something, they'll happily take as long as its ok.

[natjack 10]

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/28/three-charged-vagrancy-act-food-skip-iceland

 

The CPS think this prosecution is in the public interest. Think they need a rethink? And how can anything that's been thrown into a bin be worth anything anymore? Ridiculous waste of time court time and public money, imo.

[Squiggs 11]

keep seeing illegal branded about, its criminal that food that could be eaten is being thrown out.

 

A prime example of how "Illegal" is not necessarily a synonym for "Immoral"

[megalithic 10]

The people of this country have lost their spines allowing this to happen. I mean, being up on a charge for taking rubbish ? to eat ! Jesus wept, what next, throwing loo roll down the bog and being fined for littering ? That's how utterly stupid this is, and it just shows how subservient and weak we have become as a nation.

 

We are nothing but vermin to those who hold power.

[deboanne 10]

It's not just supermarkets, the NHS throw loads of unused , in date food away. Fresh fruit which have never left the kitchens are thrown away because no patients ordered that day. So wasteful.

[alchresearch 213]

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/28/three-charged-vagrancy-act-food-skip-iceland

 

The CPS think this prosecution is in the public interest. Think they need a rethink? And how can anything that's been thrown into a bin be worth anything anymore? Ridiculous waste of time court time and public money, imo.

 

But in the article it says they were taking away a trolley of food. An Iceland trolley perhaps?

[geared 302]

They weren't charged for taking the trolley tho, they're attempting to make some obscure vagrancy charge stick.

 

I hope the Judge has some strong words for the CPS when this case comes crashing down.

 

I find it hard to believe that jury will look at 3 men taking food out of bins and decide a criminal act has been committed.

[garrence 10]

The CPS think this prosecution is in the public interest. Think they need a rethink? And how can anything that's been thrown into a bin be worth anything anymore? Ridiculous waste of time court time and public money, imo.

 

The CPS are basing the case on a falsehood - that the food is worth £33.

 

Iceland's Chief Exec tells us that they only throw out food that cannot be sold or given away.

 

Therefore the food is worth £0.

 

The CPS and police are embarrassing themselves.