City to consult on food wastage
In response to a petition, the city’s going to hold public consultations on food wastage. I’ve seen a fair bit of news on this topic – not long ago, the city promised to fine businesses that were caught wasting food, and there have been stories about grocery chains donating food on the brink of best-before dates to food banks. I don’t know how well these ideas were worked out in practice, but clearly there’s more to be done.
Dhomas 14:35 on 2020-01-08 Permalink
Loblaw companies grocery stores (Provigo, Maxi, etc) offer a service called “Flashfood” to sell food which is coming close to its expiry date at a discount. You can consult what’s on offer via the app, order it and go pick it up, before it expires. If you fail to pick it up, it’s gone and you do not get refunded. I also wonder what happens to the stuff there that doesn’t get sold. Is it thrown out?
Ephraim 14:41 on 2020-01-08 Permalink
They could do a lot more. I once talked to a manager about calling me when certain foods were available near end of life or clearance, because I can use them, but can’t afford to buy them at full price. Nope. Okay… so try to clear your Christmas Pannaforte on your own. I do often buy from the 50% off basket, because I know how to use it. The flash app actually makes it more difficult for me, can’t see how much and if it is worth going down for. Like… give me a dozen Italian loafs on their last day at $1 each and I’m there!
Michael Black 14:53 on 2020-01-08 Permalink
A few years back it was common to find refrigerator items discounted by fifty percent a few days before expiry. More recently, there seems less, and the discount seems more often 30% off.
I don’t know if that’s the grocery stores trying to save money (so they wait longer to discount, and discount less) or if they are trying to reduce waste so less gets to the point of clearance..
I always check for reduced prices on baked goods, usually easy since many stores put clearance baked goods in a specific place, but other things you often only see because you are checking the sections anyway.
SMD 15:23 on 2020-01-08 Permalink
There is also an app called FoodHero (foodhero.com) that lists discounted items available at nearby stores. Seems to be mostly IGA and Metro stores participating for now. You reserve them on the app (I think you can pay directly for them, too) and then pick them up at a special counter in the store.
Ephraim 18:16 on 2020-01-08 Permalink
Michael Black, Maxi is 30%, Provigo is 50%. Markup is much lower at Maxi, but so are the SKUs.
Tim 21:06 on 2020-01-08 Permalink
I don’t shop at Provigo as much as I did 3 years ago, but they definitely stopped the 50% discount for a while. I scored racks of lamb on NYE at a Proving for 6 dollars (regular 30 dollars each). I opened them all as soon as I got home to make sure that they weren’t rotten and put them in the freezer immediately.