Supermarket scams that are making your food last longer than you think
From ancient eggs to year-old prawns, we find out how fresh your basket favourites really are
SUPERMARKETS are selling apples up to ONE YEAR old and sourced from at least 16 countries, it was revealed last week.
The fruit is kept in chilled warehouses, using gas to retain colour and crispness.
So here we carry out a supermarket sweep to find out how fresh other basket favourites really are.
PRAWNS
Large tropical prawns are often called “fresh” even though that is technically not legal. They have usually been frozen previously, shipped or flown 6,000 miles in a process that can take between six weeks and a year, but are then defrosted for sale as if freshly caught.
BANANAS
UK stores import their bananas, which can take two weeks from being picked to arriving on shelves.
Industry experts at Banana Link say that if the fruit is from the Caribbean, it is loaded on to refrigerated ships at 14C within 36 hours to inhibit ripening for the six-day trip.
The emerald green bananas are then put into ripening rooms for five to six days at 17C until ready.
POTATOES
The humble spud is stored for between two months and a year before appearing in front of shoppers.
Most potatoes keep for up to a year because they are “cured”, by storage at moderate temperatures and 100 per cent humidity for around two weeks.
Some suppliers spray a chemical sprout-inhibitor on them.
BREAD
Anyone with a breadmaker knows most loaves go hard within hours.
Baking industry experts say some loaves are made 48 hours before going on sale. Most popular sliced brands have preservatives and mould inhibitors such as calcium propionate and ascorbic acid.
They might be baked using enzymes that do not have to be declared on ingredient lists. Chris Young, of the Real Bread Campaign, said: “Most supermarkets’ so-called bakeries are nothing more than loaf-tanning salons.”
FRUIT JUICE
The freshness of apple or orange juice can range from two weeks to a year.
Cheap juices are made from concentrate — essentially a syrup filtered, pasteurised, evaporated and frozen before having water added to it.
The Food Standards Agency’s advice is that “freshly squeezed juice” should have a sell-by date no longer than two weeks after processing.
EGGS
Some may have been laid up to ten days before they appear — the legal requirement. Packs saying “extra fresh” must have been laid within nine days.