The title says it all really, yuck; yucky yuck yuck yuck. We have two new supermarkets in town (Penrith, Cumbria) and we visit them both, as you do since they both have items that we require. Anyway, one of the stores, not Booths it must be said, may need to address how they handle their fruit & veg 😉
The other day at work I’d taken along a punnet of Nectarines, being on a 12 hr shift and liking to nibble on fruit through the day I was quite looking forward to the first bite. There was a small gap in the mornings workload for me to think about sitting down with a Nectarine and good book, I’d made myself comfortable, and I sank my teeth into what felt on the surface to be a fairly firm bit of fruit. My disappointment on was probably expressed quite vocally – I don’t recall the exact words, I do remember the taste and texture inside quite well though, and it wasn’t what I’d hoped for at all. Anyway, the punnet had another three Nectarines in so all wasn’t lost, I reached for another…. You can probably guess where this is going, every one of them looked fine on the outside yet inside was a brown mush. So, I read my book anyway, all the while listening to my stomach grumble and complain that I was neglecting it. We’d bought two of these punnets, as they were on offer and I get through fruit at a fair old rate, so hopeful that the second would be fine I took it along for a run out to work, sadly (for me anyway) they were all brown and mushy inside, well, three were, I saved one to bring home and photograph. Well, it’s not often you get mushy brown fruit to photograph, and I like a challenge – could I do anything arty with the yucky fruit and at least salvage something from the batch.
And before anyone comments about it must be due to how we stored the fruit, they were stored in accordance with the instructions on the label, and were indeed well inside the best before date. Anyway, I do think the store in question needs to address their fruit & veg handling/storage process. Since the store opened this is probably the 5th or 6th purchase that has ended up being wasted, moldy grapes (well, they look fine on the outside but inside the bunch is a thick fur of mold); bruised apples (and I mean seriously bruised beyond recognition). You get the idea, it’s frustrating and expensive in the long run. One day I’ll remember not to destroy the receipt before I’ve eaten all the fruit and veg 😉
UPDATE – Thanks to the stores social media department this has now been resolved, nice to see good customer relations in action for a change.
