In article , djc wrote:

Some years ago I had an appointment with the MD at a company that
supplied pies, sausages, and ready-meals to various supermarkets. When I
arrived the meeting was rescheduled for another day: people from Tesco
had turned up to conduct a surprise inspection and that took priority
over everything else.


I know someone who used to work at a large frozen fruit/veg packing factory.
They pack frozen veg for most of the supermarkets and also Whitbread

Tescos perform surprise inspections, but only every so often. Sainsburys
turn up a lot more often when their stuff on the lines. Waitrose and M&S
have an inspector there all the time that their stuff is being packed...

They also had a line where frozen veg returned from supermarkets due to
being too close to the best before date is opened, and then repacked with
new dates...

This was a few years back now, but I suspect things haven't changed much

Darren