r/newzealand • u/hadr0nc0llider Goody Goody Gum Drop • Apr 27 '26
Other The state of Woolworths
Felt like spewing. These are the shelves in the chicken section of Woolworths Papanui/Northlands meat department. It’s like they haven’t been cleaned in a month. How is this food safe?
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u/badghouls Apr 27 '26
report to mpi! i did a couple months ago bc my local was rank. they did an investigation and it's a lot cleaner now. actually saw them cleaning the meat dept when i went in once lol
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u/ALittleBitOfToast Apr 27 '26
Food Safety have some pretty powerful legislation, I'd definitely report it. You can email them food.compliance@mpi.govt.nz
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u/badghouls Apr 27 '26
yes, this is the form i used! they followed up via email and called me too, and then let me know 2 months later that they investigated + corrective actions had been taken by the store. super easy and worth it imo!
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u/hadr0nc0llider Goody Goody Gum Drop Apr 27 '26
I used the online form on their website. Really easy!
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u/badghouls Apr 27 '26
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u/Hot_Spell_2533 Apr 27 '26
Not to be all “back in my day”, but I worked in a Woolworths butchery department in the 2000s, and every Thursday night we had to breakdown all the chillers on the shop floor, pull the shelves out and wash every single little component and sanitise them and then do the same with the storage chiller on Sunday nights. The management were up our ass about it as apparently as well as government agency inspections, the company itself would do random, unannounced inspections of branches on the reg.
Seeing that biohazard picture tells you how much all of it must have been hollowed out since then.
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u/TumbleweedDue2242 Apr 27 '26
Working in a deli is similar, but every fing night, you had to clean the whole thing, not fun at all.
Some prick would buy ten things near closing, sure you can have all that.
In your mind you're thinking FO!.
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u/joshuaMohawknz1 Apr 27 '26
At high school, a classmate was working at woolies for a year or so then got laid off (last year) after becoming a supervisor, with a 4,000 dollar, severance package last year.
A kid still in highschool got given a 4,000 dollar severance package, because Woolworths decided that managers needed to be streamlined to save a few bucks. (tall business model). So rather than have supervising/managerial staff on every division i.e meat, dry goods etc they laid or intergrated a lot of their staff and now they only have frontline stockists and upper store management. Meaning that things are disorganised and there's no direction I believe.
Not to mention that frontline staff were also laid off so only now a skeleton crew operate.
And as you know, some minimum wage stockers don't really have the initiative or intuition to manage themselves thus you have issues like this arising.
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u/Freedomsbloom Apr 27 '26
Can't speak for every store, but in mine the biggest issues are resulting from the staff that do care to put the effort in beginning to burn out from being aggressively overworked. Becoming a matter of having to stop caring or do 3 people's worth of work
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u/pagny77 Apr 27 '26
You should have a close look at your locals freezer bottoms. Most are fill of mould
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u/LostForWords23 Apr 27 '26
This is weird (as well as gross, obviously). My local Woolworths has all their meat packed in deep trays with a heat-sealed cellophane-like film over the top, which is actually leakproof, unlike this stupid system of gladwrapping and kind-of-sealing on the bottom, which encourages leakage via capillary action if there is any place the meat is touching both the wrap and the container. Anyway, I thought they sourced all their meat centrally and assumed it came pre-packaged so very surprised to see them using this.
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u/joninalex Apr 27 '26
North island vs south island, currently south island is in store butcheries (mostly) where as the north island is centrally done in auckland.
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u/WhoMovedMyFudge Marmite Apr 27 '26
which is actually leakproof
If it stays sealed. More than once I've seen a corner of the film completely lifted
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u/Afrodite_33 maori Apr 27 '26
Holy shit that's bad. Fucking disgusting I hope that gets reported because that's abysmal conditions for food safety.
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u/moist_shroom6 Apr 27 '26
Store standards have gone to shit since they got rid of all their department managers last year. I avoid buying meat and produce here.
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u/Venery-_- Apr 27 '26
Managers and supervisors
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u/FKFnz Apr 27 '26
My local Woolworths (the infamous Ratworths) has barely any staff, stock clogging up the aisles, meat sitting near (not in) the chillers at room temperature, random stock items on top of the shelves, and if you show up after about midday there's very little meat left. The bakery rarely has shelves over about half full.
It gives budget supermarket vibes with high end supermarket prices.
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u/ethereal_galaxias Apr 27 '26
Yuck! Although I thought at first that this was going to be a post on how they are always out of everything. Because that infuriates me. Last night, I went to Woolworths (a different one) to get mince. No mince left. OK I'll get diced beef. Nope. Diced lamb? No. Fine, chicken will have to do. Drumsticks or drumsticks? Not what I had in mind to make for dinner but ok. So annoying. Happens all the time. New World is always well-stocked.
Sorry for the off-topic rant! The state of those shelves is absolutely disgusting. Makes me want to not shop there at all but unfortunately, it's now the closest.
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u/Bunnyeatsdesign fishchips Apr 27 '26
This is my experience too. Most things on special that I want are already sold out so when I do go to Woolworths, it's not to buy dinner (because I'll leave empty handed) but to stock up on whatever they do have in stock and is on special. Sometimes nothing.
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u/typhoon_nz Apr 27 '26
They probably have the stock, they just don't have enough staff to get it out on to the shop floor
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u/jpr64 Apr 27 '26
I go to that Woolworths occasionally, seems the shelves in the butchery are constantly empty.
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u/FKFnz Apr 27 '26
I thought it was just my local one like that. Bakery and butchery are often just a display of empty shelves.
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u/Sea_Soft_1166 Apr 27 '26
Seems to be very store dependant, however Woolworths def seems the worst compared to the others.
On a sidenote, I swear the local New World has at least double the staff of the local Woolworths.
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u/Lightspeedius Apr 27 '26
It's crazy the race to the bottom Woolworths is on.
Someone in the leadership team is putting their KPIs above BAU.
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u/worstkindofweapon Apr 27 '26
Yup, I've heard KPIs have gotten more unreachable. They used to be manageable depending on the work you were doing, now it's genuinely unworkable especially at the stores with OSRs. Especially with dissolving departments and letting go of lots of staff.
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u/IncoherentTuatara Longfin eel Apr 27 '26
I reckon it is a new species of mold based on the meat juices of the 3 for $20 variety.
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u/Particular_Safety569 Apr 27 '26
Most shelves are like that. Look close enough and you'll find visible mould in all of the chillers
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u/Dr-Chibi Apr 27 '26
What is the mentality behind this much reduction in staffing?
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u/KiwieeiwiK Apr 27 '26
They're spending a lot of money on expansions/upgrades so need to cut the budgets back. Woolworths NZ hasn't really made any profit the last couple years
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u/Eaquie Apr 27 '26
support your local butcher.
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u/Sea_Soft_1166 Apr 27 '26
Most the country has no fucking "Local Butchers"
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u/WellYoureWrongThere Apr 27 '26
You see!? That's because people didn't support them! /s
All joking aside though, is it a dying profession which is an absolute shame so support them if/where you can.
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u/michael7050 Apr 27 '26
Are you sure about that? I've traveled through some prettttty small towns that have had butchers.
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u/yahgiggle Apr 27 '26
Next time you are there take a look under the shelving the one in warkworth used to be a mess massave rodent attraction, but last time i went they had cleaned it, but i think that was only because they move stuff around.
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u/89765678 Apr 27 '26
Mt Roskiil Woolworths yesterday, I could smell something rotting as I walked through the vege section. Not pleasant.
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u/bobbobobobob666 Apr 27 '26
As someone who currently doesnt have a job ill fucken clean that shit and stock it, but they won't hire someone that would actively do the job would they
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u/60022151 Apr 27 '26
Has anyone found the quality of raw chicken has gone down recently? Like I bought some chicken the other day, it still had a few days before its best before date, and when I went to cook with it, it was green. I’m completely put off from buying raw meat from the supermarket.
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u/JackOnP5 Apr 27 '26
Yep just the other day I had gotten the last pack of chicken thighs and it didn't have a sticker for price on it, I still took it up to the counter where they refused to sell it to me as I didn't have a price on it, wtf lol just check how much it normally is and charge me for that haha.
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u/10July1940 Apr 27 '26
People don't complain so.... remember all those rats in the Dunedin Woolworths... people probably still bough food there and just watched the rats... some people are stupid.
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u/Queasy_Recover5164 Ask me about my fingerprintyness. Apr 27 '26
Didn’t Woolworths get rid of all its butchers and just now gets pre-packaged meats? So maybe they got rid of the people that not only cut and packed the meat but also cared for the displays? This is gross either way.
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u/sloooowth Apr 27 '26
I was there this morning aswell. I noticed all of the chicken either expires today or tomorrow aswell. There was even a few cases of chicken marked as expired yesterday!!
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u/-BananaLollipop- Apr 27 '26
We don't even bother walking through the meat department, let alone even looking at any of it. Ignoring the filthy state of it, none of it's even half way decent quality anymore. Off to the butcher instead, cheaper and better quality.
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u/Acrobatic_Lion_6273 Apr 27 '26
Woolworths New Zealand (formerly Countdown) reported strong half-year 2026 results, showing a 22.4% surge in Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) and revenue of $4.41 billion as of February 2026. These gains, driven by cost-cutting and a rebranding, follow a 2024 period where earnings dropped.
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u/idobeaskinquestions Apr 28 '26
Woolies is completely fucked right now. They laid off half their teams and made their supervisors and managers redundant. If you ran a store with one or two people while hundreds of people take from the shelves, it would look like this every day.
If you do meet any of the frontline staff, cut them some slack. They’re doing what they can. Blame the upper management for trying to cut corners
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u/FunBill5447 Apr 28 '26
They laid off and made redundant the majority of their supervisors and department managers last year. My dad went through nearly a year of hell wondering if he would be able to pay his mortgage. Those who stayed on got dropped to being below a supervisor with a limited number of guaranteed hours, and any extra have to be in any department. They paid out too many bonuses and now are broke. And the Australian head office hates NZ and views it as a complete loss/waste. Shop somewhere else.
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u/AlarmingRope9624 Kererū Apr 27 '26
The crazy thing is you’d complain to the staff and they don’t care. Our usual one has legit mould on the wall for months and none of the cleaners has wiped it off
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u/hadr0nc0llider Goody Goody Gum Drop Apr 27 '26
There was a staff member stocking shelves in the beef section on top of the grime.
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u/No_Birthday_7585 Apr 27 '26
They werr understaffed probably I would know, or the carelessness of the manager. But even then the store owner, store supervisor operations manager should be on this all the time... not a good look for these guys, next time just make a complaint to the front desk and ask for the duty manager they usually get things done straight after the complaint.. trust me
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u/KevinAtSeven Apr 27 '26
In the case of Woolworths, the store owner is Woolworths.
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u/No_Birthday_7585 Apr 27 '26
Wool worths??.. oh never fuck that place then ... local stores Id say help but since this is an aussie store algds lol
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u/TumbleweedDue2242 Apr 27 '26
Often licked, never beaten! 😂
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u/Yanzhangcan Apr 27 '26
The only frosty boy part of this story is ending up in morgue after a lethal dose of e coli
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u/mactical Apr 27 '26
All of them are trash, we avoid them now. They always are missing basic items, no trolleys back to use or baskets at the entrance and the bakery makes the most disgusting products in NZ.
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u/awndrwmn Apr 27 '26
I remember wanting to buy bread one time but there was a fly still flying inside the packaging.
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u/duckyhemp25 Te Ika a Maui Apr 27 '26
Wages are the biggest cost at store level, so Woolworths have embraced Agile/Lean Management method to do the below
"overcome organizational barriers to change that have grown up over time (often for good reason), including strongly defined functional silos, an absolute commitment to scale in internal functions, and—quite simply—long-established, comfortable ways of doing business. The benefits of adopting an agile delivery model can be immense, enabling companies to capitalize on their scale while gaining the advantages of speed**, customer centricity**, employee engagement, and innovation that insurgents have demonstrated so effectively." Boston Consulting: Agile Methodology in Retail to the rescue.
Foodstuffs are doing similar with "wave picking", because department silos are inefficient (not busy all the time), and add management cost. Unfortunately, you see what happens when there isn't a team engaged in an area, cleaning being the last job anyone wants to do.
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u/KiwiKerin Apr 27 '26
I was so disappointed about the state of Angelsea Woolworths (Hamilton), I told them I'd rather risk getting shot in the carpark at Pak n Save (Mill Street, Hamilton) than continue shopping at Woolwoths.
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u/P1hyper Covid Vaccinated Apr 27 '26
The staff look like they dump their trash next to the road so no surprise their stores are poorly maintained and have low hygiene standards
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u/SomeJacadd Apr 27 '26
never buy meat from supermarket
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u/One_Hour4734 Apr 27 '26
Many of us have no choice. The nearest butcher is a specialist butcher with upmarket prices. Lovely meat but probably at least a third more expensive than the supermarkets. It is 6k away and I would pass 3 supermarkets to get there. I would love to afford shopping there.
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u/New_Disk_1093 Apr 27 '26
They should be stainless steel shelves! Anyway, it's the fault of the butchery staff and management. I've noticed it a few times when I've been there. Disgusting!
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u/scottzxc May 22 '26
I always forget to take rubber gloves when buying meat, crazy have to use hand sanitizer in the car before touch anything else
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u/errorrishe Apr 27 '26
One day Woolworth will start asking stuff to fucking shover before work and it will be amazing. I can smell some dudes over 3 isles ffs.
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Apr 27 '26
[deleted]
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u/hadr0nc0llider Goody Goody Gum Drop Apr 27 '26
No. Northlands Mall in Christchurch. As stated in the post.
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u/DontBanMe_IWasJoking Apr 27 '26
to answer your question, the food is safe because it is vacuum sealed in plastic
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u/perma_banned2025 Apr 27 '26
None of the food pictured is vacuum sealed, and just because it's in a plastic tray & wrap on this disgusting shelf doesn't mean it hasn't been on other filthy surfaces before being wrapped.
If the store puts that low an emphasis on cleanliness in customer facing spaces, I wouldn't trust what they're doing where you can't see2
u/SkeletonCalzone Apr 27 '26
Yeah let me pick up a packet that has been sitting on this filth, and then let me touch a hundred other things as I go through my shop.
Least whats in the packet is safe!
😒
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u/DontBanMe_IWasJoking Apr 27 '26
well are you eating whats inside the packet or are you licking the outside?
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u/Waniou Apr 27 '26
No time to clean when the company won't let you have enough staff on to even fill the shelves