Tesco's Fresh Prawns are FROZEN?! ~ Tesco-Complaint

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Tesco's Fresh Prawns are FROZEN?!

I love my prawns!!!! However, visiting my local TESCO store in Montrose on Thursday 16th August, I was about to put my TESCO Jumbo (fresh) prawns in my basket, but noticed they were in fact FROZEN!! Label clearly states that the product can be frozen at home - dilemma! Are they fresh or frozen - can they be refrozen at home??

I managed to (finally) attract the attention of one of the two assistants standing immediately behind me - busy talking to friends (customers?) - though it took a few attempts! I explained my dilemma about "fresh", "frozen", health hazzards, etc. After around 6-7 minutes, they called "Chris" (presumably the person in charge?) who, VERY reluctantly shook the packages about, mulled over the situation (I'm still waiting for a decision) and, even more reluctantly, took the few remaining packets of prawns away (I think?) muttering something about "contacting the supplier"!

So, I left for home (minus my dinner) in the hope that I'd perhaps saved a few other unsuspecting shoppers from possible food poisoning?! Today (Friday 17th August) visited the TESCO store in nearby Forfar - guess what? Same "fresh" prawns - FROZEN! Unfortunately, I was in a rush, and couldn't find a nearby assistant to help - needless to say, I didn't buy the product - no dinner again!

This is a disaster waiting to happen - my biggest issue is (apart from the obvious health implications) that there were only a few items left on the shelf by the time I discovered this - how many people didn't actually detect this before purchase/consumption??

I, personally, am a long standing, faithful TESCO customer, however, I now have very serious doubts about the food standards - too many incidents recently in the media regarding health issues for my liking!!

TESCO, please do something about this - someone could end up VERY sick and, unfortunately, your staff appear blissfully unconcerned....

A VERY concerned customer. Vicki P viccatpat@yahoo.co.uk

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You not get sick from chilled prawns being frozen instead!

Anonymous said...

The chillers get very cold sometimes, it may look frozen buts its not, remember, YOU DIDNT HAVE TO BUY THEM....

Anonymous said...

don't they freeze seafood on the trawlers anyway? although im not an expert on prawn harvesting...

Anonymous said...

A lot of it, she hasn't got a clue what she's talking about. Just wants to make a fuss.

Anonymous said...

For clarity can I just ask, did you find these prawns in the chiller or the freezer? If they were in the chiller then it's clearly a problem with the chiller, which is obviously no good to you.

Are they DEFINITELY a fresh line, definitely not supposed to be frozen in store?

Sorry if that sounds patronising, not intended to be.

Anonymous said...

Fresh prawns can be frozen, I dont understand what the complaint is here. They are frozen a few hours after being caught to preserve the freshness.

Just another stupid complaint, you didnt even mention where you found these, the freezers or the chillers? Tesco sell jumbo prawns in both the freezers (in bags) and chillers (in small boxes with a clear lid).

If you would take your time out to post such a blatantly silly complaint on this site, you dont deserve any sympathy.

Anonymous said...

All 'fresh' prawns come in frozen.. most of them say 'do not re-freeze' but some do state they can be re-frozen.

Check out the various things right at the very back of the shelf. over filled so the back-stock down. you'll find lots of stuff frozen, believe me, i worked in a fresh food dept for 4 years. these things dont get wasted, they just get pulled forward.

Anonymous said...

the prawns are fast frozen at source, and slowly defrost out in the cold chain from the supplier to the shelf. they are still frozen when out on sale because this process happens so fast. The label is correct, when they are fully defrosted (after being walked around the store in your basket) they can, safely, be re-frozen at home.

Anonymous said...

I can tell you now that tesco frozen prawns are disgusting!!!.Do not buy the brand Shell fish de la mer.They shrink to less than half of size in the packet!.Jumbo prawns my ass.My friend told me about a documentory saying in India that they pump loads of water into them, dirty water! to make them bigger.These prawns are from India and the pacific ocean absolutely worst prawns i ever tasted.Tesco you are scam artists!!!.

Anonymous said...

OK, I'm now going to educate you in Prawns.

You did not state whether these where King or normal prawns however the point holds true. You cannot buy fresh prawns in the UK, they are either frozen at sea, then taken for processing where they are then defrosted, cooked, peeled then frozen again. This is called double frozen.

Alternatively they are caught as fresh, taken to processing where they are then cooked and peeled and frozen. This is called single frozen.

When being delivered to store they are either packed for the chiller or the freezer. The frozen prawns remaining frozen, the chilled prawns defrost en-route.

They are not fresh, they are either chilled or frozen all chilled prawns will have been frozen at least once. You are much better buying frozen prawns as they are a cheaper way of getting exactly the same product.

There are no health implications from what you have seen in store and chilled prawns are fine to be re-frozen. Most prawns you have ever eaten will already have been frozen twice.

Think about it for a second, would you want a fresh prawn that had been caught in Iceland/Canada/Indonesia, then processed then shipped fresh? This whole process takes at least 6 weeks. Mmmm lovely and fresh.

Andy said...

the prawns are fast frozen at source, and slowly defrost out in the cold chain from the supplier to the shelf. they are still frozen when out on sale because this process happens so fast. The label is correct, when they are fully defrosted (after being walked around the store in your basket) they can, safely, be re-frozen at home.

yanmaneee said...

supreme new york
supreme clothing
jordan shoes
golden goose
balenciaga
yeezy 700
golden goose
kd shoes
air jordan
hermes belts for men