Woolworths and Coles online orders fall short in freshness stakes

A new survey has found almost half of consumers who had ordered grocery deliveries online from the supermarket giants had received products on, or very close to, their use-by dates.

Online grocery shopping has surged in popularity over the past year, but with some items delivered just 48 hours before their expiry date, consumers have been left wondering if they would get fresher produce in-store.

A retail survey from consumer advocacy group Choice found supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths are often delivering food that needs to be consumed in the next couple of days.

And 46 per cent of people surveyed said they had received products on, or very close to, their use by date.

Katie Watts and Murray Taylor get hands-on with the fresh produce at Galluzzo Fruiterers in Glebe. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

The Daily Telegraph shopped online at both Coles and Woolworths – and then in-store – to compare the freshness of products.

The Daily Telegraph found that Woolworths baby spinach was delivered two days before its expiry date. When shopping in-store at Broadway, the same product could be purchased five days before it was due to go off.

At Coles, the same brand of cage-free eggs bought in-store had 10 days longer on its expiry date than the eggs that were delivered.

The Daily Telegraph completed the same shop in Wollongong, south of Sydney, where there was less disparity. For some items across the board, longer expiry dates were found in the delivered product than in-store.

Woolworths’ deliveries have soared in lockdown but many recipients are wondering if they are losing out in the freshness stakes.

For example, Bega cheese had 194 days to expire in-store at a Wollongong Woolworths but 237 days delivered.

The Choice survey found chilled milk, chilled meat, packaged salad and vegetables and yoghurt were the foods most often delivered with a less than ideal shelf life.

When questioned about both the survey and The Daily Telegraph’s experiment, a Woolworths spokeswoman said online orders were hand-picked “to the highest standards.”

“Customers can use the notes section of their order to let us know what they prefer and our personal shoppers will do their best to meet their needs based on the stock available at the time,” she said. “If customers have any concerns with the quality of a fresh product they’ve bought either in-store or online, they can return it for a refund and replacement as part of our Fresh or Free guarantee.”

Coles also said their “team members follow strict guidelines that detail the minimum use-by date acceptance – these differ across our fresh produce categories including dairy, meat, bakery and eggs”.

“Our returns policy is available on our website and we offer a full refund or replacement for products that do not meet our customers’ quality expectations.”

Chippendale residents Murray Taylor and Katie Watts said they had many reasons to shop in-store.

“It’s good to physically see the fresh produce, give the avocados a squeeze, all of that,” Mr Taylor said.

“When you order online, chances are you get the dud bananas, bruised apples, it’s not always great.”

Ms Watts said: “For me, it’s about doing my part to reduce plastic in the environment.

“I’ve ordered online before and was shocked at the amount of packaging.

“There’s a sense of community at the local greengrocer, and it’s great to support small businesses, especially in these times.”