Asda apologises over poor hygiene

BBC One’s Watchdog programme said it carried out an undercover investigation into the supermarket’s delivery service following several complaints from the public about hygiene issues.

Tests of bacteria levels on a crate from 10 different deliveries, undertaken by a Government-accredited microbiology laboratory for the programme, found that three were dirty “equivalent to dirt levels of a kitchen floor” and two were “extremely dirty, which equates to the dirt levels of a kitchen bin”.

One whistleblower told the programme that he wore gloves at work because of his concerns about catching something from the dirt, and a second sent photos of mould and squashed fruit on the crates, adding that the crates are used to deliver food to nurseries and nursing homes.

One customer showed the programme maggots she found in a cat food box from one Asda delivery.

In a response to Watchdog, Asda said it had fallen short of the standards expected by customers.

The grocer said it had taken action including the deep cleaning of every home shopping van, re-briefings for every Asda employee on cleaning and food safety rules and the introduction of deep cleaning for all delivery crates in all stores.

An Asda spokesman said: “Our customers expect and deserve the highest standard of service. We haven’t lived up to this but our customers can trust us to take complaints seriously and do the right thing to resolve them.

“Although some of our policies and procedures have not been followed in these six stores, we have taken immediate action to permanently improve standards across all our home shopping services.”