The Era Of Supermarkets
Buy two, waste three
The more, the merrier: Suppliers make sure shelves are fully stocked at all times, even with short-lived products like juices.
It is every shopper’s delight to see items on “sale”, “promotion” and “offer”. But those great deals are also ingenious ways to clear excess stock at supermarkets.
Under the terms of the contract between supermarkets and food suppliers, it is the latter’s responsibility to keep shelves well-stocked at all times or risk getting “blacklisted”, according to former frozen seafood supplier Joseph Quek, 42.
This means the suppliers’ contracts could get terminated or they could face other forms of penalty.
This pushes suppliers to constantly replenish their shelves with newer products even before the expiry dates of the older ones draw near, leading to a pileup of soon-to-be-expired stock.
“When unsold food is not utilised or resold to someone else, that’s food wastage. But there’s no consolidated government body to monitor that, not that I’m aware of at least,” says Nichol Ng, 32, managing director of food distribution company FoodXervices.
Assistant manager Vernon Ling, 32, who shops at Carrefour once every week, admits to overbuying when supermarkets tout promotions to clear their goods. When spotted on a Sunday afternoon, items that were not in his shopping list included a bag of Lays potato chips, two cartons of milk and a box of Carrefour muesli cereal, which were “going at a cheap rate”.
Once or twice a year, Mr Ling discards forgotten bottles of sauces and condiments that have gone past their ‘use by’ dates.
The era of supermarkets is now.
A recent Nielsen survey showed an eight per cent increase in fresh food spending in supermarkets and a 53 per cent increase in hypermarkets.
Says Mr Ang, “We’re at a stage where demand is high, and customers want quality products and assortment. It becomes very challenging for the retailer.”
Simply put, the more we want, the more we waste.
ARTICLE RESOURCES:
Do we really need perfectly shaped vegetables? Well, some people think so. A certain European country even has legislation against selling an out of shape or off-colour say carrot as a ‘carrot’.
I mean at the end of the day, food is also about taste and nutrients, no?
Wow, which European country doesn’t allow imperfect food?! That’s shocking!
Shows the benefits of being on the right side of the rich-poor country gap. This law would not be passed in say, Ethiopia for sure.
HI Rychel, it’s the whole EU actually. There’s a legislation (has been around for 20 years) which prohibits the sale of misshapen produce. The lifted the ban on some 26 types of fruits in 2009, but it remains on 10 types of fruits and vegetables: apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces, peaches and nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes.
Imagine the amount that can’t make it to markets even though it’s just 10 types.
For more information: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7723808.stm