An Aussie supermarket has begun to crack down against vegetable “thieves” after a clip of a Melbourne store shelf went viral.
An Aussie supermarket has launched a crack down against vegetable “thieves” after a clip of a Melbourne store shelf showing nothing but broccoli stalks went viral.
A sign placed in front of a broccoli stand has warned grocery shoppers against snapping off broccoli heads to reduce the weight of the vegetable.
Shopper were wared that staff would now be inspecting vegetables at the checkout.
The sign, shared to Twitter via 3AW Breakfast, said: “ATT customers. You must not break the stems of the broccoli.
“This is classed as theft. All broccoli purchases will be checked at the registers. Thanks, Management.”
It is in unclear which supermarket the sign was placed in.
Melbourne woman Jenn Shaw filmed inside a Coles recently, showing an array of broccoli stalks that had been snapped off and dumped on the display table.
She suspected the method had been adopted as a cost-saving strategy for households feeling the pinch of the surging cost of living.
She wrote in text on her video, “$11.90/kg broccoli in Melbourne. Shoppers are leaving stalks on shelves,” which she uploaded to TikTok on Monday.
More than 35,000 people have viewed the clip since, many empathising with the people who felt compelled to remove part of the vegetable to save money.
“I always break mine off as it weighs less and cost less,” one person wrote in a comment.
“No disrespect but for that price I would do the same,” another said.
Someone else claimed a grocer near them had “a sign stating if you remove them you pay double the price”.
A Coles spokesperson said it was “disappointing” some people were taking stalks off their broccoli.
“It’s disappointing to hear a small number of customers have removed the stalks from broccoli in our stores as the entire vegetable is edible and full of nutritional value,” they told news.com.au.
“As part of our Together to Zero strategy, we will continue to work on ways to minimise food waste by educating customers about how to get the most out of their fresh produce.
“A great example is a recipe by Curtis Stone that heroes shaved broccoli stalk as a main ingredient.”
Australia’s supermarket squeeze could also hit the cost of cucumbers, tomatoes and berries as farmers warn it could be months before prices return to normal.
A shortage of workers and the rising cost of production has placed a handbrake on supply, with farmers warning their crops are at risk of rotting in the field because they do not have workers to pick them.
AusVeg spokesman Tyson Cattle told Nine the flood-affected areas in Queensland had also added to the price pinch.
“The reality is … it‘s going to take 12-16 weeks for supply to get back to normal,” he said.
“The cost of production issues are significant. Fertiliser costs, chemical costs, fuel costs as you‘re seeing, wage costs, all these different impacts are having critical impacts on growers to be able to plant their crops.
“That‘s obviously going to have a flow-on effect to the Australian consumers.
Mr Cattle called on the government to fast-track visas for farm work and scrap plans to cut the Coalition’s Agriculture Visa, given the drop-off in backpackers in Australia.
“If we do have the labour coming in, then all of a sudden we can have the confidence to plant more product,” he said.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt met with stakeholders across the industry on Tuesday to talk through challenges in the sector.
Mr Cattle told Nine he had met with the new minister “a couple of weeks ago” and hoped he could work with him to “find a solution”.
“It‘s really getting to a critical point to find a solution,” he added.
Extracted from news.com.au
