A multinational British retailer initiated an investigation after a social media user documented what appeared to be egregious food waste at one of its locations, The Grocer reported.
On Jan. 13, Instagram user Supermarkets waste inspector (@food_waste_inspector_) shared a reel depicting trash bins overflowing with edible food behind a Marks & Spencer store.
Text at the top of the clip read: "The shocking waste we find tonight at M&S."
According to The Grocer, the West London man behind the account intends to remain anonymous to continue documenting supermarket food waste in the United Kingdom.
Food waste can be complicated for grocery purveyors to avoid, as items must be deemed safe for consumption before they can be distributed or donated.
In the video, however, the "vigilante" user documented no fewer than nine trash bins full of bread, sacks of potatoes, fresh flowers, and meat.
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The discarded meat products, in particular, undercut potential concerns about safe consumption, as the sell-by or use-by dates had not yet passed when the footage was captured, and at least one package's date was a week in the future.
Throughout the clip, an audibly disgusted Instagrammer reiterated that the immense food waste coincided with an uptick in food insecurity in the U.K.
"There's a lot of people going hungry, yeah? And people are struggling to put food on the table, yeah?" he laments as he sifts through food that was visibly pristine.
As The Grocer noted, Marks & Spencer has a publicly available food-waste plan stating that the retailer pledged to "halve food waste (against a 2017/18 baseline)" by 2030, and "by 2025, to make sure 100% of edible surplus food finds its way to a dinner plate."
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Heck yes 👍 Considering the video was filmed Jan. 13, M&S appears to falling short of its 2025 promise.
A spokesperson for Marks & Spencer acknowledged the video in a comment to The Grocer.
"It's clear that at these stores, something has gone wrong, and we're investigating that right now," they said, citing the retailer's purported "clear process to manage food waste in-store."
However, the Instagrammer's subsequent efforts to document food waste at M&S led to a new, upsetting discovery: locked bins, presumably to conceal it.
Commenters were enraged by the initial clip.
"I visit a small fruit stall up the street from me and what they don't sell, people working at the food banks pick them up, M&S could do the same," one said. Several called for oversight.
"This really needs investigation and highlighting, please," a user wrote while tagging BBC Panorama. "This food could be being donated and it's happening EVERY DAY."
Another comment was heartbreaking.
"I'm out of bread. Being elderly, disabled and housebound online shopping is my only option. I don't NEED anything but bread but will have to pay a minimum order £15 plus £3 delivery!" it read, referring to a $20 order and a $4 fee. "A loaf or two of that wasted bread would be just fine.…and I'd love a chicken too."
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