Images have emerged of Coles supermarket aisles filled with discarded products deemed unsafe after major power outages in Victoria.
About 30 stores across the state were affected by outages during Tuesday’s “catastrophic” storms that killed a dairy farmer and knocked out power to more than 500,000 homes.
Coles customers have since discovered piles of dairy, meat and frozen products being thrown out because they could be “compromised” after refrigerators and freezers lost power during Victoria’s wild weather event.
A shopper saw the frozen food aisle of the store in Middle Camberwell, east of Melbourne, blocked by trolleys because the contents of the fridges had piled up on the floor.
Another customer at another Coles found a large container full of unopened milk bottles.
Coles shoppers in Victoria were shocked to see aisles full of discarded frozen food (pictured) after severe storms hit the state and caused power outages on Tuesday.
The image of the suburban supermarket was posted by the shopper on redditas well as another image of a warning sign next to the blocked hallway.
The sign urged customers not to buy “dairy or frozen products as their quality may be compromised due to the recent power outage.”
While some Reddit users took aim at the supermarket giant for dumping so much stock, many supported the decision to “protect its customers.”
“Everything was done to save as much stock as possible… of the stores that lost hundreds of thousands of stock, not a single person in that process was excited to just throw it in the trash,” one user wrote. .
“It was a miserable day for cold chain workers in Victoria, they don’t waste things just for fun, they do it to protect people’s health.”
Another user said that while they don’t support Coles after recent price increases, they admitted “this was a strange incident and they are protecting the health of consumers.”
He image of a ‘rack full of milk’ from another Victorian store caught the attention of a user who claimed to work in another supermarket where staff were forced to “throw away over $100,000 worth of stock”.
“Absolutely heartbreaking, both from throwing away so much food and watching our hard work go down the drain,” the user wrote.
“The worst thing was having to tell every customer that we didn’t have anything for dinner.”
A shopper at another Coles store in Victoria took a photograph of a container full of unopened milk bottles (pictured) after freezers and refrigerators lost power following the violent storms.
A Coles spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that while around 30 stores in Victoria had lost power, all had now reopened.
“All of our stores are back open and our team is working hard today to restock our shelves, so we can continue serving the community,” the spokesperson said.
‘While most of our stores were back online quickly, some of our stores were without power for longer, meaning there is some food that needs to be thrown away.
“At Coles, food safety is paramount and unfortunately the food we throw away is not safe to sell or donate to food rescue charities.”
Rival supermarket Woolworths was also hit hard by the severe storms, with a similar number of stores losing power on Tuesday.
Four Woolworths stores are running on generators, while stores in the worst affected areas, Gippsland and Dandenong, “can operate with restricted hours.”
‘We are expected to have to discard a number of chilled products, including dairy, poultry, milk and frozen foods. “This is in line with strict food safety protocols,” a spokesperson said.
“We would like to thank local power authorities for quickly reconnecting power to areas where it was lost, and also our customers for their continued patience as our store teams work hard to meet all of the community’s needs.”