Food safety and general health and safety-supermarket ,best course?

[Kitt_Walker]

I work in a small supermarket store and today I was asked directly to put out for sale fruit that I found mould growing on It. When I raised it with my manger he said it is only one strawberry out of a bunch and just half price it ,it wont matter. Now I might be able to write this off as a one-off but similar incidences have occurred in the last 3 months approx.Admittedly I have not been directly involved in these and do not know if they have been sold each time.However I have seen off strawberries being put out for disposal when we have a shrinkage officer come and then a day after being placed back out for public consumption. From what I have heard from other people as well (egs.frozen food completely defrosted then resold,crates of milk left out all night then attempted to be resold) I'm really concerned that because our store has been placed under investigation for shrinkage losses,management is trying to cut corners to hide the systematic failings in our store that do include other health and safety failings like obstructions and spillages (higher than regular occurances). My question is how is best to proceed because I believe customers health and safety is really being put at risk in our store. The reason I am asking now is because I am directly involved (manager asking me to put out the mouldy fruit for sale) and because previously when I raised similar health and safety issues at work,I was bullied and discriminated against by some of the previous managment.

[renegadeimp]

By law you cannot sell that produce. You are violation of health and safety laws if you do.

 

By the sounds of the info from your post, you really must report it to the authorities. Even if it costs you your job.

[edge_of_the_map]

Try Environmental Health - they can inspect without telling the store who informed them. If E.H can't help, they will point you in the right direction.

I suggest you email - a great way of making anonymous enquiries. Keep it specific - they can't investigate hearsay & it's better to direct them to one or two specific bad breaches rather than a lot of general stuff - they can't take samples of everything. Which things should they sample?

 

As a Microbiologist, I am more concerned about the thawed food & un-refrigerated milk.

Mouldy strawberries are probably labelled Class 1 & are therefore not the class of goods they purport to be so the store is therefore breaking the law.

Edited August 17, 2013 by edge_of_the_map
spelling error

[Kitt_Walker]

With regards to the milk and defrosted food ,the people involved i know directly ,would it still be okay to mention these incidences and if I did, am I correct in thinking that any trouble that they may get in on the supermarkets behalf is wrong and so can be overturned? I took pictures of the case with the mouldy strawberry although I forgot to say that when I was asked to reduce it for resale (and visibly shocked) ,on my way back ,the manager came to me and said he would buy it and to put it upstairs. However I do not know if this was just for my benefit and in fact put it back out for sale which would chime with similar incidences in the past that I have knowledge of. Would this affect anything I report? Sorry for being cautious,it's just that the last time I did try to say similar things wrong and followed my company's internal process,management (some who have had to leave in part because of their treatment of me) caused me to have quite a few emotionally fraught months.Thanks for the replies too, I was doubting myself.

[renegadeimp]

Your shop is breaking the law, and if caught, could be subject to massive fines, both for the people involved and the company itself. In extreme circumstances the people involved could be subject to prison time. By this, i mean everyone involved who authorised and actually resold the product. IIRC, the fines are up to £5000 per offence.

[Kitt_Walker]

So I am doing the right thing and should just suck it up. Sorry and thanks again for reply

[renegadeimp]

The right thing would be to inform the authorities and the head office. If you keep quiet and future investigations reveal that you knew about it and failed to tell someone, then you could be fined.

[Kitt_Walker]

Yep that is what I am intending to do('sucking it up')and thank you again. The only thing I query is it necessary to inform head office?Last time I tried following internal procedure ,I was put through two disciplinaries and suspended.Although they dropped it once they realised legally I had backed myself up with evidence and support, won't I just be blowing in the wind if I contact head office; with them more likely focusing on getting rid of me as a 'troublemaker' rather than solving the health and safety issues? Me losing my job isn't so much the concern here, just going by my previous dealings when I drew attention ,they essentially only changed some of the managment whilst whitewashing the rest.

[renegadeimp]

If you want to whistleblow, inform the authorities. If you want your name to be on record, Contact head office, although you could do it anonymously through a random phoneline or letter/email.

 

WHatever you do, make sure you contact the relevant authorities so the Company cannot claim ignorance or cover it up.

[Kitt_Walker]

Kl kl thanks