Waitrose leaves shoppers with shortest fresh food shelf life, Which? finds

Waitrose has the shortest average shelf life for perishable food, while Asda has the longest, a new Which? investigation has found – with one supermarket delivering food with just hours left before its use-by date.

The consumer champion's 12 mystery shoppers placed identical online orders during a two week period for 29 fresh and perishable items at each of the six major supermarkets- Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose - assessing more than 2,000 perishable products. Researchers then added the number of full hours remaining from the time of delivery to midnight on the use-by date for each item and calculated an average time per supermarket.

Which? found Waitrose had the shortest average shelf life of all six supermarkets with 7.7 days, it was worst on average for several products, including scones, bread, fresh pasta sauce, fresh tagliatelle, houmous and pork sausages. Two packs of Waitrose beef mince and a pack of chicken thighs arrived with a use-by date the day after delivery. 

Tesco did not fare much better. Which? found that Tesco delivered fresh groceries with an average of 8.8 days shelf life left. One shopper received fresh pasta sauce and pork sausages both with 3.4 days of life left, significantly less time remaining than the supermarket says customers should expect. Tesco’s shelf life guide says that shoppers should expect a week for the sauce and at least five days’ life on the sausages when ordering online.

When it came to Sainsbury’s, Which? found that the average shelf life was 10.2 days. Three items, sweetcorn and two packs of basil, had a best-before date on the day of delivery. A pack of chicken thighs had a use-by date the day after delivery. 

Ocado had some particularly long-lasting products, including two packs of honey roast ham with more than 20 days left (vs 13.13 on average for all retailers). However, one shopper received basil that was in date but black and wilted.

Morrisons performed well overall, but one substituted raspberry trifle had less than four hours until it expired. In contrast, Which? found one shopper received houmous with 24.38 days left (compared to 11.54 days average across supermarkets and only 3.88 days at Waitrose). One mystery shopper however, received an opened pot of pineapple from Morrisons that had leaked over other groceries.

Which? found that Asda delivered the freshest groceries overall. Five shoppers received beef mince with at least 18 days left before its use-by date, while one pack of cod had seven days remaining. A tomato and mascarpone pasta sauce ordered by Which? from Asda had an average of 33.6 days remaining, compared with just 12.2 days when bought from Waitrose – despite the Waitrose version costing 23p more.

Which? found some products were more likely to disappoint as several shoppers reported pre-cut carrots from a range of supermarkets that looked ‘slimy’, ‘wet’ or ‘manky’.

The findings come as shoppers continue to face pressure on their grocery budgets. Receiving food with a short shelf life can leave households with little choice but to change their meal plans, rush to eat food or waste groceries they have already paid for.

A Which? survey found that 16 per cent of people who had experienced frustrations with their most recent online supermarket delivery said receiving perishable items with a very short shelf life was their top frustration.

Reena Sewraz, Which? retail editor, said:

“When you pay for a supermarket delivery, you expect your fresh food to have a reasonable amount of time left on it.

“Our investigation found a striking difference between supermarkets, with some shoppers getting several days’ less time to use their groceries than others – and in some cases, just hours.

“It’s particularly hard to swallow when you’re paying premium prices but getting food with a much shorter shelf life. Supermarkets need to make sure their freshness promises actually deliver, so shoppers aren’t left having to change their meal plans, rush to use food or throw away groceries they’ve paid for.”

-ENDS–

Notes to editors: 

Methodology:

*Pictures available on request*

Which? recruited 12 mystery shoppers across Great Britain to order the same list of 29 fresh groceries from Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

More than 2,000 perishable items were ordered and delivered. Which? calculated the time remaining from delivery until midnight on the use-by date for each item and used this to calculate an average shelf life for each supermarket. The mystery shoppers were encouraged to keep and use the food they ordered, share it with friends or family or give it away via local Facebook groups, food sharing apps or to community fridges.

Where products were substituted by the supermarket, the substituted item was assessed as received.

Advice for consumers:

Which? advises consumers to take specific steps to protect their budget and reduce food waste:

• Inspect on Arrival: Review delivery notes and unpack perishables promptly to spot short dates or damaged packaging.
• Reject at Doorstep: Return unsatisfactory or short-dated items directly to the delivery driver for an immediate refund.
• Freeze Early: Check use-by dates upon delivery and freeze fresh items that can be frozen right away in freezer-safe containers.

Right of replies:

Which? approached all of the supermarkets mentioned in the research. Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's did not provide an official comment.

A spokesperson for Ocado said: "We are proud of our Fresh+ promise, making us the only UK online grocery retailer to offer a life guarantee on all fresh products. Our promise guarantees a minimum number of days of freshness on products ranging from fruit and veg to bread and milk, ensuring customers can trust Ocado to deliver the freshness they are looking for on each and every delivery. If customers aren't 100% happy with a product's freshness, they can easily arrange an immediate refund online or through our app."

A spokesperson for Tesco said: “We work hard to select the freshest items with the longest expiry dates for all our Grocery Home Shopping delivery and Click + Collect orders and we highlight any items that have a shorter shelf life than we would like as part of our Freshness Guarantee. If customers are not happy with any items at the time of delivery or collection, they can hand them back for a full refund.” 

A spokesperson for Waitrose said: “We are committed to offering the freshest and highest quality products, reflected in our growing online grocery sales. And in response to increasing customer demand for products with simpler ingredients, we have removed preservatives from some of the items in this analysis where they are common, including our houmous. Our online grocery pickers are trained to choose the longest dated products they can, and our most recent customer survey showed that the vast majority of our online customers rated the shelf life of our products as good or excellent.”

About Which?

Which? is the UK’s consumer champion, empowering people to make confident choices and demand better. Through our research, investigations and product testing, we provide trusted insight and expert recommendations on the issues that matter most to consumers.

Fiercely independent, we put people over profit - shining a light on unfair practices, influencing policy and holding businesses to account to make life simpler, fairer and safer for everyone.

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