Coles shoppers were left divided over who was to blame after a customer complained about broken eggs that had been left on shelves for half an hour.
A concerned shopper spotted the filthy state of shelves at a Coles supermarket in Melbourne on Sunday and claimed he saw staff ignore him for 30 minutes.
She shared the photo of the dilapidated shelves on Facebook and the image sparked a fierce debate over who was to blame.
Some criticised staff, claiming they had witnessed similar scenes in other stores, while others criticised customers for causing the mess in the first place.
“There was a broken egg somewhere on the shelf, the smell was horrible, no one cleaned it up,” one said.
‘I stopped buying eggs there, I couldn’t stand the smell of the aisle.’
A second said: “I’ve seen the same thing in our Coles store midweek too, (I) don’t shop there anymore… No pride or respect these days.”
A former supermarket manager has weighed in, saying the state of the shelves was “unacceptable”.
An image of broken eggs abandoned on a shelf at a Coles in Melbourne (pictured) has sparked anger among Australian shoppers, with staff reportedly ignoring the problem for around half an hour.
‘Fill the empty space with a product that generates extra income at the cash register,’ they wrote.
‘Customers pay their wages with their purchases, and selling eggs could have offset the 10 minutes of cleaning required.’
Other users criticised the shopper for saying he stared and judged the staff instead of alerting them.
“You have time to look at the eggs for 30 minutes, but you don’t have to tell any staff,” one user wrote.
“They have things to do and I bet looking at eggs is not on their mind.”
Another said they shouldn’t complain about the staff, but about the “customers who make this mess.”
A Coles spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that the supermarket “takes food safety very seriously and our teams work hard and take pride in maintaining a clean and hygienic environment in all our stores.”
‘We thoroughly clean our shelves on a regular basis and, in relation to the photograph you have provided, this appears to be an isolated situation.’
This comes as Coles and Woolworths are forced to ration egg purchases as the supply chain is restricted by outbreaks of bird flu (file image)
The incident comes as the bird flu outbreak continues to spread, with 11 farms in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria affected, resulting in the deaths of more than one million chickens.
The closure of farms has disrupted the supply chain to the point where Coles and Woolworths have been forced to restrict the amount of eggs customers can buy.
McDonald’s is also feeling the impact, announcing this week that its egg-heavy breakfast menu will be discontinued at 10:30 a.m. instead of noon to limit usage.
Rowan McMonnies, the boss of Australian Eggs He said consumers looking elsewhere will still be able to find eggs even if one store is temporarily out of stock.
“If you want eggs, you’ll get them,” McMonnies said.