Food safety inspectors raised concerns about Tesco’s ability to implement its own corporate waste management arrangements after food waste was left rotting in the sun for 19 days following a fridge failure during the summer heatwave.
Inspectors from City of Lincoln Council visited the Tesco Extra store on Wragby Road on 15 July after receiving complaints.
The store’s chilled storage unit had failed in the hot weather at the end of June, when temperatures topped 35°C.
Waste in the store’s rear yard included over 20 cages of high-risk foods, including meat, cheese and yoghurt in unsealed clear plastic bags. Around 40 dollies of burst milk containers were found “leaking due to prolonged exposure to high ambient temperatures”.
“The waste was not contained in suitable, sealed, leak-proof, pest-proof containers and remained exposed during hot weather,” the inspector wrote. “This presented an increased risk of offensive odours, pest attraction, leakage of waste liquids and contamination of the surrounding area.
“A significant infestation of maggots and flies were observed within the rear service yard, associated with the prolonged storage of decomposing food waste.”
The inspector said that store management had recognised the seriousness of the incident and promptly escalated it to corporate management, but that escalation failed to secure the timely removal of the food waste.
The report, obtained by The Grocer under the Freedom of Information Act, found “significant failures in both corporate waste management arrangements and their implementation at branch level, resulting in the prolonged accumulation of decomposing high-risk food waste within the rear service yard”.
Inspectors added: “The issue was not the refrigeration failure itself, but the failure of the management system to effectively control its consequences.”
The inspector also questioned why a large portable refrigerated container remained empty and reserved for incoming stock while the high-risk food waste was stored unsafely.
“No satisfactory explanation was provided as to why the available refrigerated capacity had not been utilised to hygienically contain the waste pending removal.
“Operational priorities were directed towards accommodating incoming stock rather than mitigating food safety and pest risks associated with prolonged storage of high-risk waste,” they noted.
The report also noted that repeated pest control recommendations to keep the rear service yard clean had not been acted upon at the time of the inspection “with significant accumulations of waste and associated pest activity still evident”.
The store received a food hygiene rating of one, meaning major improvement is necessary.
A Tesco spokesman said that the majority of its stores had the maximum rating of five.
“When it was recently inspected, our Lincoln Extra store was awaiting a collection of withdrawn food during heatwaves this summer, which created exceptional challenges for the store and put pressure on food waste collections nationally. We took immediate action to manage this, and have addressed the recommendations made during the store inspection, working closely with the local authority. We intend to apply for a re-inspection imminently.”
Lincoln Council confirmed that the store was now compliant. The store also went on to win a Grocer 33 mystery shop in September.
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