SHOPPERS are furious over a major change at Sainsbury’s – with some customers claiming it leaves food tasting “revolting”.
The supermarket now packages beef mince in vacuum-sealed plastic, in a bid to save the environment.
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In February, all 600 Sainsbury’s stores switched to vacuum-packed beef, including all orders online for delivery and click and collect.
The change means the supermarket is using a minimum of 55% less plastic, making it more eco-friendly as a result.
It replaced a sturdier plastic tray and film lid where the meat could move around inside.
But, shoppers have slammed the change complaining that now the meat sticks together in a lump
In a review on the Sainsbury’s website one said that it was “not mince at all now” and that it “comes apart in lumps”.
Another complained: “Its a sticky lump of goo, all the texture gone in the vacuum. “
A third chimed in: “The new packaging is inappropriate for a freeflow minced beef product.
“The product has now been destroyed and is now a slab of compressed meat.”
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One said that the vacuum-packing “changed the texture of the mince meat into a paté type mush” and another branded it “revolting”.
A Sainsbury’s responded to the backlash: “We are always looking for new ways to innovate packaging to meet our ambitious plastic reduction targets.
“Our new vacuum-packed beef mince packaging uses 55% less plastic and saves over 450 tonnes of plastic a year, without impacting taste or quality.”
The amount of meat in a packet is unchanged and it currently costs £2.49 for a 500g pack.
In terms of other changes which didn’t delight customers, Tesco recently changed its loo roll.
In a bid to help the environment, Tesco is now wrapping standard length rolls of toilet paper more tightly onto the cardboard inner tubes.
Tesco is selling the bathroom essential labelled as lasting longer and with 50% more sheets per roll.
But some say the new design has thinned out the paper and left their “delicate places irritated”.
The new method of winding rolls more tightly has led to Tesco switching its standard 24 packs of toilet paper for packs of 12 “double” rolls.
As for Sainsbury’s, the supermarket has made other changes to become more sustainable in the past.
In 2019, Sainsbury’s removed plastic bags on fruit and veg in stores.
A reusable drawstring bag now costs 30p, and if you don’t want one, you need to bring your own container.
More recently, the supermarket giant joined other major stores by removing plastic lids on bottle cartons.
It confirmed that it had gradually been rolling our clear milk bottle tips for semi-skimmed milk since October.
The retailer confirmed it is planning to make the change across its entire milk supply this year.
