Is it just me, or has the quality of fresh fruit and veg gone to pot?

It seems like every pepper I buy has a part that’s gone soft and started to go off. Cutting into onions to find the insides rotten. Potatoes starting to sprout far too quick.

What’s going on?

47 comments

  1. If you’re buying from  aldi and lidl all their stuff is on the verge of rotting

  2. I found that the quality of fruits&vegs took a massive dip from pandemic and never recovered since.

  4. Getting rid of best-before dates from fruit and veg means old stock can linger in supermarkets. They say this has reduced wastage but so far as I can see we have just switched to customers throwing it away. Doing a weekly shop, it is not always easy to buy fresh food that will last that seven days.

  5. Lots of rain + shooting ourselves in the foot and now paying more for food from the EU.

    Means prices in the “nice” supermarkets are up, and the trash they have in Lidl and Aldi is even more trash than it used to be.

  6. Or they’re fucking tiny. Like we’ve been buying apples for years. Why are they suddenly so small?

  7. All just part and parcel of the massive race to the bottom that is modern day uk

  8. All of the above, and carrots too! Theres never any fruit available anymore either. Have a feeling that B word has something to do with it…

  9. I get a weekly delivery from Oddbox. They sell produce that’s rejected by the supermarkets, either because it’s not the right shape, or because there was oversupply. So they completely disregard aesthetics.

    The veg often has dirt stuck to it, or is a bit weirdly-shaped. But it tastes great and usually lasts longer than the stuff in supermarkets.

    I suspect that shoppers prioritise aesthetics, which leads to suppliers prioritising aesthetics, which leads to dodgy (but nice-looking) veg on the shelves

  10. It’s the scrapping of the Best Before and Use By dates.

    Beforehand they’d have to take products off the shelf and throw them away.

    So they framed the removal of the dates as a “way to reduce food wastage”

    Instead it means I have to throw the gone off stuff away at home, and have to drive to Sainsbury’s twice a week rather than once because it won’t last 7 days at home anymore.

    All it’s done is shift the waste from the supermarket to the consumer.

    It’s never been about reducing waste, it’s about reducing *their* waste and making more money in the process.

    If they really cared about food wastage, they’d donate the stuff that’s close to going off to local shelters/foodbanks rather than chucking it out.

  11. Weather affecting harvests, supply chain issues from multiple sources, delays at the UK border.

    It’s a perfect storm of shite. Some of which was self-inflicted.

  12. I’ve not noticed it myself but I don’t shop for veg in supermarkets so am probably outside of that particular chain. I get an Oddbox and supplement from the local market. I now only use supermarkets for dried goods as there are better and not hugely more expensive options where I live. It does lack convenience however and requires a bit better planning. I have come to feel that supermarkets are a bit of a scam for fresh food.

  13. Yep, I completely agree. I only buy fruits from M&S now. They have quality products that last.

  14. I was in Spain a few weeks ago and the quality of their fruit and veg is so, so much higher. Their Apples are massive and delicious. We’re getting the dreggs of the fruit and veg.

  15. Quality of food in the uk is dire in general. Just go to any European country and go to a random supermarket, million times better. I have no idea why the uk has such terrible food quality.

  16. Just to say there’s nothing wrong with sprouting potatoes, you can just pick them off or peel them, they’ll be absolutely fine to eat.

  17. Our local shop “fresh foods” generally need to be eaten the same day.

    Our nearest big shop is Tesco, just recently I’ve noticed the fruit going off overnight (even when stored in the fridge) broccoli is going bad in a few days, and most annoyingly the last 3 bags of potatoes I’ve bought are infested with what I can only assume is blight. Look fine on the outside, but when you start peeling them they are black with holes and crumble in the middle !

  18. I’ve not green fingered at all, but I’ve put my name down for an allotment.

    Despite looking through the veg, once it’s at home it doesn’t last at all.

  19. Think it’s all over. I’ve lost count of how many times the onions in Spain are rotten. In France it’s peppers, which I never understand since they only have to cross the Pyrenees. In Greece it’s garlic.

  20. Supermarket fruit and veg are terrible.
    I am fortunate enough to have an independent green grocery shop local to me in Driffield.
    I’ve never thrown anything away from there, plus it’s supporting a small business.
    Rafters of Driffield, absolutely amazing!

  21. I noticed that with the peppers and potatoes too. I mostly buy frozen veggies tbh as they keep.
    I also keep getting grapes, blueberries and strawberries that start moulding in a day or two. Not sure why

  22. My asda has peppers rotting on the shelves, I picked a packet up and got moldy pepper juice on my shoes 😭

  23. Supermarkets pushed for the removal of “best before dates” so they could make more profit by extending their supply chains from “just in time” to “A bit late but no one will notice”.

    The knock on positive for them is we now have to buy fruit and veg twice as often because it doesn’t last half as long.

  24. Who would have thought that making it more difficult/less desirabls for fruit and veg pickers to come and work in the country would cause delays?

    Similarly, who would have thought causing trade barriers would cause delays in foreign produce getting to the country?

  25. I’ve started buying frozen veg for a lot of things now – quality is much better, works out cheaper and lasts for longer.

  26. I solely buy my fruit and veg from markets. There are plenty here in London. In fact, most corner shops have a market front attached. So much so, it seems that they compete with other shops for your custom.

    Fruit/veg keeps well and is incredibly cheap for the quality offered. Just yesterday I picked up a bowl of grapes for £1.50. Can’t get that amount for that price in supermarkets at all.

  29. Partly from huge weather issues from still-flooded farmland to Sahara-dry in the height of summer. British farmers can barely catch a break the last few years.

  30. Quality does naturally go down over winter because food has to come further. But yes I have noticed it is not just that.

    If you’re going to be cooking it anyway, you can get frozen veg of almost every vegetable.

  31. Sick of buying potatoes (especially Maris Pipers) from various sources that I peel to discover huge black spots inside. This is something I never really noticed until recently.

  33. It’s almost like there’s been barriers to trade put up in the last few years, so perishable goods lose a few days of freshness.

  34. I vaguely remember saying something in 2014-2015 about groceries, the price and cost of them, and everybody telling me it was project fear and I was a globalist shill.

    Oh well, must have been nothing.

  35. I’ve noticed the same, since they got rid of best before dates from fresh produce, things have just gone downhill massively. I’m pretty much having to go to the shop to fresh veg every 2 days unless I freeze it, because its normally going bad by a day or two after its been purchased.

    Seriously, I know why they made the change, less food waste at a supermarket, but now the problem has been pushed to the consumer. I’ve never thrown more food waste away before the last 6 months!

  38. I’m finding meat much worse, chicken is a staple in our house and I’ve had to stop buying from supermarkets it’s got so much water in it it’s impossible to fry.

  40. I worked for Wetherspoons for ten years. People joke about the food there, but the burgers and steaks we got in were always really good quality. I recently had a burger there and the thing I saw served was easily half the size of the old ones and tasted a slight step above a Rustlers microwave burger. I mean look at that giant gap on that plate. I did not rearrange it. It came out like this. Not fruit I know, but just another example of the decline in quality that’s rampant currently.

    https://preview.redd.it/gbinjdlqfmxc1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=399058e1197781f4adb054aebf4c7e9e69f6f894

  41. Its never been great here. I once ate a tomato in Barcelona and almost started crying, it tasted that good.

  42. I have a bag of carrots that have been in the fridge for a few days already starting to sprout. I have never witnessed a carrot sprouting in the fridge as they normally get used within a week, surely they wouldn’t have been on the shelf that long, the bag says British carrots.

  43. I get a veg box from a local farm, it’s not all grown by them but a good selection of seasonal stuff is and I get a large box every 2 weeks and it all lasts pretty well

  45. I primarily shop at a Lidl, but get all of my fresh stuff at an Indian supermarket next door. Not only is it way better quality but they sell literally everything by weight which is great.

    They don’t sell every western vegetable but it works both ways. For example I get to choose from like 5-10 types of chillies.

  46. Our food nolonger has to meet EU standards and has no sell by dates. Its old and rotten

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