Asda rejects GMB's claims over cool chain as union steps up pay dispute at depots

Asda has dismissed as "frankly baloney" claims by the GMB union that it was compromising the quality and safety of products by failing to maintain temperature controls.

The GMB, which ordered a five-day strike from June 30 at Asda depots in a pay bargaining row, claimed that temperature-controlled food was left in the backyard of Asda's Brighton Marina store one afternoon in early June for more than two hours before being transferred to refrigerators. Drivers delivering to stores in Rhyl and Grangemouth had made similar allegations, said GMB regional organiser Eddie Gaudie.

Giovanna Holt, a senior GMB organiser, said: "Rollcages are routinely left sitting in store backyards or warehouses for longer than 20 minutes because there aren't the staff to wheel them into the warehouse freezers and fridges or there isn't room."

She said that it was a problem in older stores with small fridges and that it was often impossible for one person to place stock within 20 minutes: "You really need two people on the rollcage, and there isn't the staff to do that."

Asda said: "We have a 20-minute rule, which is standard in the industry, which means product is never, ever left out of the cold chain for more than 20 minutes, whether it is being transferred from delivery vehicles to the store, or from the store warehouse to the shopfloor. If it is, the product is classed as waste and not put on sale."

The company said it was not reducing staff and that its safety measures included plenty of chilled space in stores and temperature alarms.

One frozen food supplier said, with reference to the whole retail market: "We routinely find at individual store level in the industry generally that cases of frozen and chilled products are left out on the wheeled dollies used for restacking the shelves for far too long."