[Rebellious Jukebox]

On a budget, the fruit and veg offers in both places are very tempting, but has anyone any idea of how safe this stuff is? I picked up a packet of cherry tomatoes in Aldi the other day, and the expiry date was mid June, this can't be good? Should I avoid cheap veg?

[lynski]

we have been buying from there for years now, no worries. AFAIK they use exactly the same suppliers as the other multiples. I have seen trucks for the main suppliers - name escapes me - deliver to my local aldi.

[Gauge]

I buy pretty much all my fruit and veg in Aldi or Lidl. Never had a problem. Usually of better quality than the Super Valu across the road...

[Rebellious Jukebox]

Originally Posted by lynski

we have been buying from there for years now, no worries. AFAIK they use exactly the same suppliers as the other multiples. I have seen trucks for the main suppliers - name escapes me - deliver to my local aldi.

thanks

That's kind of a reflief, but shouldn't life expectency on picked fruit be a lot shorter? I'm thinking maybe I should completely re think where I get my fruit and veg?

[HeidiHeidi]

I've never seen ANY useby/sellby/bestbefore dates on veg from Lidl or Aldi! So I just have to guess the freshness by eye, but I find the quality in general a lot better than most of the major supermarkets.

I'm a big fan.

[Rebellious Jukebox]

Originally Posted by HeidiHeidi

I've never seen ANY useby/sellby/bestbefore dates on veg from Lidl or Aldi!

It's there! It gives the month and date, but not the year. You could miss it, as it just looks like a code. The manager pointed it out to me yesterday, as I was frustrated with what I thought was a lack of one.

For exapmle, it looked like this on the tomatoes in question "1806"

[wonski]

Originally Posted by lynski

we have been buying from there for years now, no worries. AFAIK they use exactly the same suppliers as the other multiples. I have seen trucks for the main suppliers - name escapes me - deliver to my local aldi.

Iverk and Donnelys supply for Aldi, and some smaller, too. Irish suppliers anyway, and pretty much the same you get elsewhere in Ireland.

Also, never noticed use by date on vegs, but will check again next time

BTW Aldi are doing super6, incl. salad tomatoes for 29c, hard to be beaten on that price...

[lynski]

it is often worth ignoring the specials as the main stock is so reasonable.
for instance the have organic bananas for 1.49 for 6, much less then anywhere else, and on a par with non-organic is most places.
also in my experience a best before date on fruit does not mean a thing. if you house is warm things will ripen faster, one apple can be riper then another from the same branch, etc.

in my house the children eat so much fruit that i never even consider bbd as they wont last that long.

[blatantrereg]

The country of origin usually seems hard to find on the label. It is actually there, just non-obvious.

Personally I avoid produce from China. Questionable practices appear to be the norm from what I've read: >40% of the population are infested with parasites, >10% of the agricultural land contains heavy metals, foreign nationals/agencies are banned from inspecting their food production - the list goes on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_sa...ublic_of_China

That means I dont buy garlic in Aldi. I get most of my vegetables there though.

[Cardinal Richelieu]

Originally Posted by blatantrereg

The country of origin usually seems hard to find on the label. It is actually there, just non-obvious.

Personally I avoid produce from China. Questionable practices appear to be the norm from what I've read: >40% of the population are infested with parasites, >10% of the agricultural land contains heavy metals, foreign nationals/agencies are banned from inspecting their food production - the list goes on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_sa...ublic_of_China

That means I dont buy garlic in Aldi. I get most of my vegetables there though.

I have to say thats a crock of farm manure, multinationals inspect Chinese farms and products and with the child milk scare the Chinese government has gone to town on dodgy practices.

[Cardinal Richelieu]

Originally Posted by Rebellious Jukebox

It's there! It gives the month and date, but not the year. You could miss it, as it just looks like a code. The manager pointed it out to me yesterday, as I was frustrated with what I thought was a lack of one.

For exapmle, it looked like this on the tomatoes in question "1806"

Could you take a pic of the label and post it? It sounds strange to be that long for fruit and veg. Sometimes grower numbers are printed on labels for traceability.

[Gauge]

I did a quick Google and according to an Aldi employee, the code refers to the week (Week 18 = the week of April 30th to May 6th) and the day of the week (Day 6 = Saturday).

But I wouldn't place much value on the best before dates of fresh fruit... to be honest it's never really something I considered before and I don't have a problem with fruit or veg spoiling. On top of that, Aldi have a very high turnover of fruit and veg.... if I go in the evening there's usually nothing left, so I doubt there's anything that's been sitting around the shop for very long...

[blatantrereg]

Originally Posted by Cardinal Richelieu

I have to say thats a crock of farm manure, multinationals inspect Chinese farms and products and with the child milk scare the Chinese government has gone to town on dodgy practices.

Is it though? Here is the source for the comment you highlighted from my post:

http://www.alternet.org/environment/...eally_organic/

Since the Chinese government does not allow foreigners to inspect Chinese farms, an extra step is involved for oversight of organics from China: Chinese companies, which are allowed to inspect Chinese farms, subcontract with foreign ACAs. Cummins believes "the safest course of action is ... to say we won't certify imports from China because their law won't allow inspections."

Here is a list of food safety incidents in China:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_sa...ublic_of_China

The land in China in general is not ideal for agriculture. This means increased use of pesticides etc to yield good results.

The most shocking factor is the prevalence of ascaris (giant roundworm) in the Chinese population. 47% according to this medical journal. Ascaris infestation occurs as a result of eating food which has been contaminated with human faeces. It is prevalent in countries with bad practices regarding sanitation and ones where human faeces is used as fertiliser. Aside from an indicator of these things, ascaris infestation itself is a serious concern. It can occasionally cause organ failure, blindness or death - and often is not diagnosed until one of these occurs. Even when apparently asymptomatic it can effect growth, energy, digestion and adequate nutrition. Aside from competing with the host for nutrients, it releases a chemical that actively blocks the digestion of certain proteins (this is how it is not digested itself).

[wonski]

Originally Posted by Rebellious Jukebox

It's there! It gives the month and date, but not the year. You could miss it, as it just looks like a code. The manager pointed it out to me yesterday, as I was frustrated with what I thought was a lack of one.

For exapmle, it looked like this on the tomatoes in question "1806"

Yep, you are right, but i checked yesterday and all had codes 1406 and 1407 (including cherry tomatoes), didn't see 18XX, so it could have been mistake in printing, maybe?
Anyway it is probably display until date, as DU abb is over that code, and think it has more to do with shelf life of the product, and, as it is delivered daily to the stores, it shouldn't affect customers at all.

[Rebellious Jukebox]

Originally Posted by Gauge

I did a quick Google and according to an Aldi employee, the code refers to the week (Week 18 = the week of April 30th to May 6th) and the day of the week (Day 6 = Saturday).

But I wouldn't place much value on the best before dates of fresh fruit... to be honest it's never really something I considered before and I don't have a problem with fruit or veg spoiling. On top of that, Aldi have a very high turnover of fruit and veg.... if I go in the evening there's usually nothing left, so I doubt there's anything that's been sitting around the shop for very long...

Hey, that's great, the manager I asked obviously got a little confused.

Last Thursday I bought deliicous oranges in Superquinn, 2.99 for the bag, by Sunday one of them was mouldy. There are satsumas from Aldi that I bought several weeks ago in the fruit bowl and they show no signs of having aged, and taste wise they really aren't up to much. This is my worry, that the good quality more expensive stuff is real fruit, and the cheap stuff is destroyed with additives to make it last longer