Waitrose delivers fresh groceries with the shortest shelf life among major UK supermarkets, according to a new Which? investigation. The consumer watchdog found that products from Waitrose lasted an average of just 7.7 days from delivery to use-by date, despite the retailer being the most expensive of the six supermarkets tested.
Investigation details and findings
Which? recruited 12 mystery shoppers across Britain to order the same list of 29 fresh groceries from Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose. The shoppers calculated the time remaining from delivery until midnight on the use-by date for each item, then averaged the results for each supermarket.
Waitrose was the worst performer for several specific products, including scones, bread, fresh pasta sauce, fresh tagliatelle, houmous, and pork sausages. Two packs of beef mince and one pack of chicken thighs from Waitrose needed to be used within a day of delivery.
Customer frustrations and retailer responses
The investigation follows a Which? survey that found 16% of people who had experienced frustrations with their most recent online supermarket delivery named receiving perishable items with a very short shelf life as their top gripe.
A Waitrose spokesperson said the brand was “committed to offering the freshest and highest quality products,” which was reflected in its growing online grocery sales. They added, “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.”
Tesco did not fare much better, with an average shelf life of 8.8 days. One shopper received fresh pasta sauce and pork sausages with just 3.4 days until the use-by date. A Tesco spokesperson said the retailer works hard to “select the freshest items with the longest expiry dates” and highlights any items with a shorter shelf life as part of its “Freshness Guarantee.” They added that if customers are not happy with items at the time of delivery, they can “hand them back for a full refund.”
Asda leads with longest shelf life
On the other end of the spectrum, Asda delivered products with the longest average shelf life. Five shoppers received beef mince with 18 days left before expiry, and a pack of cod had a week left. Asda’s tomato and mascarpone pasta sauce had an average of 33.6 days remaining, compared to just 12.2 days for the same product from Waitrose, which cost 23p more.
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.”
Performance of other supermarkets
Sainsbury’s products lasted an average of 10.2 days, while Morrisons and Ocado tied for second place with an average of 10.4 days. Sainsbury’s was let down by sweetcorn and two packs of basil that had a best-before date on the day of delivery. Ocado excelled with its honey roast ham, which had more than 20 days left, compared to the 13-day average for other retailers, but its basil was poor after one shopper received a pack that was black and wilted. Morrisons performed well but failed to impress with a substituted raspberry trifle that had less than four hours until it expired. One shopper also received an opened pot of pineapple that leaked over other groceries. However, Morrisons delivered a houmous with 24.38 days left, compared to the 11.54-day average for other supermarkets and the 3.88-day average at Waitrose.
Which? also offered three tips to reduce food waste when ordering online: inspect items on arrival and unpack perishables promptly to spot short dates or damaged packaging; return unsatisfactory or short-dated items directly to the delivery driver for an immediate refund; and check use-by dates upon delivery and freeze fresh items that can be frozen right away in freezer-safe containers.
