Tesco shopper fury as supermarket axes dinner staple from shelves
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OUT OF STOCK Tesco shopper fury as supermarket axes dinner staple from shelves
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TESCO will no doubt have sparked shopper fury after axing a dinner staple from shelves.
The UK's biggest supermarket has discontinued the BBQ essential and own-brand line.
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Tesco has discontinued its own-brand eight packs of beef sausages
Credit: Tesco
Tesco eight packs of beef sausages are no more after it is understood the supermarket stopped stocking them.
The meaty item is also showing as "currently out of stock" on the chain's website.
Customers can still buy six packs of Tesco Finest Aberdeen Angus Beef Sausages for £3 and four packs of Tesco Finest Pork and Beef smoked sausages for £4.
Retailers often discontinue products to make way for newer items on shelves and based on sales and customer demand.
Tesco recently confirmed it axed popular southern fried chicken flavour instant noodles, for example.
The pack costed around 50p and was available in store and online, but was dropped and replaced with another chicken flavour shoppers could buy.
Tesco also recently cut its own-brand tomato and basil soup from its chilled range.
The retailer confirmed it had made the change because it adjusts its soup range across the year to reflect seasonal demand.
Tesco shoppers were also shocked to find the supermarket no longer stocks six-pint cartons of milk.
OTHER DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS
The Sun exclusively revealed last month Cadbury's has axed Fry's Coffee Cream after first launching it in 2023.
Weetabix discontinues popular cereal flavour
Cadbury didn't say when the Fry's Coffee Cream multi-packs were discontinued - just that they were available while stocks lasted.
Carlsberg Britvic has also axed Tango Dark Berry Sugar Free after customers reported struggling to find it on shelves.
A spokesperson for the drinks maker said it stopped making the fizzy drink earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Sainsbury's recently confirmed it had discontinued its Patisserie Valerie cake slices from branches.
Aldi also axed its popular Deli smoke pork sausages across 100 stores leaving shoppers devastated.
Lidl dropped beloved fridge essential Dairy Manor lactose-free skimmed milk from shelves recently too.
Sainsbury's has also axed popular own-brand Meat Free Steaks to customer frustration.
Baked goods giant Greggs recently caused a stir after dropping ham salad baguettes from menus, as exclusively revealed by The Sun.
The lunch item was axed in favour of other fresh baguettes, despite its popularity among hungry shoppers.
Why are products axed or recipes changed?
ANALYSIS by chief consumer reporter James Flanders.
Food and drinks makers have been known to tweak their recipes or axe items altogether.
They often say that this is down to the changing tastes of customers.
There are several reasons why this could be done.
For example, government regulation, like the "sugar tax," forces firms to change their recipes.
Some manufacturers might choose to tweak ingredients to cut costs.
They may opt for a cheaper alternative, especially when costs are rising to keep prices stable.
For example, Tango Cherry disappeared from shelves in 2018.
It has recently returned after six years away but as a sugar-free version.
Fanta removed sweetener from its sugar-free alternative earlier this year.
Suntory tweaked the flavour of its flagship Lucozade Original and Orange energy drinks.
While the amount of sugar in every bottle remains unchanged, the supplier swapped out the sweetener aspartame for sucralose.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.
Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories
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3 hours ago
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Brainy new Google ‘AI Mode' that finds you cheap hols & saves you money launches in UK as boss brands it ‘magical'
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Hema also said that her own family used AI Mode to plan a trip. 'So my daughter just finished college and has been doing travelling with a friend,' the Google exec told us. 'And she just did the Portugal to Spain trek. 'And we were actually using AI Mode in the US when she was home to help her plan her trip. 'To say: How do you pace yourself? What are some good places to stay? What are budget places to look for? How should you think about food? 'So it was really, really magical.' 13 WHAT IS AI MODE ACTUALLY FOR? Here's the official word from Google, including tips on how to search well... "AI Mode is particularly helpful for exploratory questions and for more complicated tasks," Google explained. "Like comparing products, planning a trip or understanding complex how-tos. "In fact, we've found that early users of AI Mode are asking questions that are two or three times the length of traditional search queries. 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'In AI Mode, you can take a picture, upload an image, and ask a question – and get a rich, comprehensive response with links to dive deeper,' Hema told us. 'AI Mode can understand the entire scene and image, including the content and the context of how objects relate to each other. 'So in the particular case, where you have a bookshelf and say 'hey, find me recommendations of books like that', it's able to understand the context of the entire image.' She said it would 'come back with recommendations and places where you can have access to those specific books'. 'And then if you have additional follow-up questions to build on, you can do that right there.' 13 13 The Sun also saw a demo where Google insiders asked AI Mode about how to get into birdwatching. It served up info on what gear you'll need, the best places nearby to spot birds laid out on a map, and general advice. The complicated question was answered in a matter of seconds, and linked out to multiple websites. 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'So when you actually think of it on a daily basis with billions of search queries – and sometimes these are simpler ones like weather, sports scores, train schedules – just a link to a site that you wanted to go to, search is awesome at it. 'And I think that you would be able to find what was the fastest way that you need to get the information. 'And we think of AI Mode as more complex. The harder questions, the difficult questions that you otherwise probably wouldn't have had a chance to figure out formerly. 'So I think it depends on the use case. You could choose whichever format that you prefer to engage with search.' Hema also revealed that AI Mode isn't meant to replace Google's chatbot Gemini. The ChatGPT-style both is available on phones and computers, and lets you ask almost anything in a conversational style – including with your voice in real-time. The Sun even tried using it as a free tour guide for holidays. A GOOG IDEA? The expert view Brits finally have access to AI Mode, but what does The Sun's tech editor Sean Keach think? It's hard to imagine a time before Google. I use it, unthinkingly, dozens of times a day. Maybe more than that. And I suspect most of you are exactly the same. So when Google makes a big change, it affects billions of people. And AI Mode is a seriously big change. I've had an early look at it in Google's HQ and it's undoubtedly impressive. It serves up rapid-fire responses to very complicated questions, answering them from every angle and serving up loads of very appropriate links, map pins, and suggestions. It doesn't take a genius to see how this could make planning a day out or a holiday much easier. There are clearly loads of ways this will save you time, not least because you don't have to make 15 different searches. One, plus a follow-up question, might do. The real question will be around how it affects all of us. This is Google serving up content, which means it might make mistakes. If those mistakes relate to health or finances, it could be very serious. We'll have to watch it closely. And secondly, anyone making content will rightly be worried that people might not need to visit their websites if the content shows up on Google first. Google seems certain that this won't be the case, and that Brits will be shown more appropriate links than ever before. But again, only time will tell. In the meantime, I'm off to see if AI Mode can book me a cheap summer hol. Croatia, here I come. Picture Credit: Sean Keach Google says that AI Mode won't kill off Gemini. They'll both exist together. 'The role of AI mode is primarily information-seeking journeys,' Hema said. 'And information-seeking journeys that are built on the power of the goodness of knowledge graph, maps, shopping, places. 'That's why you see the presence of these links very strongly. 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'Secondly, we are very committed to ensuring that there are strong links to figure out the right jump-off points and make it easy.' She said the existing AI Overviews feature, which summarises content to provide speedy answers to your questions on Google, is a great example of that. 'We send billions of clicks and with AI Overviews, one of our learnings is that when people go from AI Overviews to the content, they tend to spend more time there, which is a good sign that it's a good thing," the Google exec added. IT'S AI TIME If you want to try Google's AI Mode, it's available in the UK right now. You'll see a new AI Mode button on the right side of the search bar, which you can tap for brainier results. And if you make a search and – in hindsight – wished you'd used AI for it, you can tap the AI Mode button at the top of the screen to convert your request instantly. If you can't see AI Mode right away, don't panic: it'll take a few days for the feature to reach all Brits. 13
South Wales Guardian
7 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda prices to skyrocket, experts say
The Autonomy Institute think tank said that climate-induced price increases for everyday food items could push almost 1 million people into poverty. The UK is at particular risk thanks to heatwaves and droughts. Under a high-emission 'worst-case' scenario, food prices could rise by 34%, the study found. Just me and mother in the house, neither of us have particularly expensive tastes but I've just been to Tesco's and managed to spend £99 on the weekly shop (£113 before Clubcard prices and vouchers taken off). It's quite scary how expensive things have become now. Under a 'best-case' scenario, the cumulative food price inflation could still reach 25% by 2050. Heatwaves in the UK could cost an average household between £917 and £1,247 by 2050, it added. It comes after the UK's leading retailers like Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons have warned over the changing landscape of the retail industry owing to the searing and scorching heatwaves the UK has experienced. Will Stronge, the chief executive of the Autonomy Institute, said the UK could look at introducing 'buffer stocks'. 'Climateflation is no longer a distant risk; it's a present reality,' Stronge told the Guardian. Recommended reading: 'We need to build real economic resilience – and that means rethinking what public service provision can and should provide in the face of climate disruption: from delivery of basic essentials to publicly funded diners and a national buffer stock.' The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said rising fruit and vegetable prices had contributed to a jump in food price inflation in June. Helen Dickinson, the BRC chief executive, said: 'Retailers have warned of higher prices for consumers since last year's autumn budget and the huge rises to employer national insurance costs and the national living wage. 'We predicted a significant rise in food inflation by the end of this year, and this has been accelerated by geopolitical tensions and impacts of climate change.'
