King Island Beef: Coles promotes No Added Hormones Beef, Randwick (7 Jan 2011)

http://www.kingislandbeef.com.au

Keeping customers informed

So it looks like Coles is doing a big marketing push for the 'No Added Hormones' label on all their beef products. I guess that's a step in the right direction to better inform customers what they might be purchasing but it makes me wonder what we were getting before — perhaps it was always hormone free, perhaps not? Tonight I decide to buy some King Island Beef Scotch Fillet ($32/kg) which doesn't get the distinctive Coles label but it's hormone and antibiotic free in any case. I wonder what other factors contribute to what customers will buy besides price — grass fed versus grain fed beef and organic perhaps?

So I wonder if the new labelling will help make customers feel more comfortable in buying their beef at Coles now?

King Island Beef Scotch Fillet ($32/kg)

No Added Hormones labelling

Coles: Possibly the worst cherries I've ever seen, Randwick (5 Dec 2010)

148 Belmore Road Randwick NSW 2031

http://www.coles.com.au

Oh dear, they're awful!

So there I was shopping for a few groceries for dinner in Coles when I came across the boxes of cherries at the end of the fruit and vegetable section next to the check out counters. I couldn't believe the disgusting looking cherries on offer at around $18 a kilo — some of them were literally so bruised and spoilt I was expecting to see flies or maggots coming out of them. Definitely not fit for consumption and very sub-standard. I read I'm not the only one that has been disappointed with the fruit and vegetables you sometimes find in Coles and Woolworths which are so proudly promoted by Celebrity Chefs these days. I truly wish they'd sort out the Coles in Randwick — it's quite a disgrace and quality checking seems to be non-existent. I don't really understand how the fruit can get to this awful state without being noticed by management and staff?

I much prefer to shop at the Royal Randwick Fruit Market across the road where they seem to take great pride in their produce and quality checking but unfortunately when it's very late in Randwick there's no other options but Coles.

Dear Reader, where's the best and cheapest cherries in Sydney these days? I spotted some at a fruit stand on Hunter Street last week for $8/kilo.

Bad looking cherries, 7.30 pm, 5 Dec 2010

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Are the Celebrity Chefs selling out these days? (30 Nov 2010)

http://www.woolworthschristmas.com.au/freshchefs

A fresh perspective

Every time I see Curtis Stone, the chef of supposedly all things seasonal, on a Coles ad or MasterChef which is sponsored by Coles I have a little cringe because I wonder if this means he's somewhat sold out. I bet his never walked into the fruit and vegetable aisles in Randwick Coles to spot the sad looking bruised and battered produce I've seen lying around — and I've lost count how many times I've noticed moldy strawberries still left on the shelf. Anyone wanna do a quality spot check? It's nothing like you see on the MasterChef pantry that's for sure — I wish it was though.

It now looks like Woolworths is getting in on the act and using Celebrity Chefs brought to the Australian household limelight on MasterChef to advertise their supermarket as a destination for all your Christmas food shopping. I seriously wonder if Margaret Fulton, Tobie Puttock and Guy Grossi really pick Woolworths for Christmas or is it more the other way around with Woolworths picking them as their feel-better-about-buying-from-a-huge-supermarket-rather-than-your-local-independent-butcher-or-farmers-market-promotional-ambassadors. I would have thought professional chefs would be buying directly from farmers and suppliers so they have more control over what they're really getting and serving their customers and building on a trusting relationship?

I also wonder if these Fresh Food Chefs actually cooked the pavlova, turkey and leg of ham they're holding or is it just all advertising props made by food technicians and food stylists. Winners are grinners as they say and someone must be winning through all this but I doubt it's the hard working farmers. That's my gripe and whinge for the day.

Dear Reader, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.