We're not to blame for wasting food - it's all the supermarkets' fault

For days now the filthy-rich supermarkets have been protesting that they are not responsible for the massive food wastage in this country.

Of course they are.

They not only create waste they make massive profits from it.

We are told that every household throws away £420 of food a year. Well, that's £10 billion worth of supermarket sales.

And it is generated chiefly by the way we have allowed and encouraged the big retailers to operate.

Even before food gets to the warehouse, giants like Tesco have junked hundreds of tons of it because it did not meet their peculiar specifications for shape, size and so on.

Their storage techniques, designed to unnaturally prolong the life of fruit and vegetables up to the point of sale, contribute to the almost instant decay of "fresh" produce when it arrives in the home.

Then there's the packaging.

The entire supermarket system is based on delivering food packaged to maximise retailer convenience and profit margin.

If you go into a butcher's shop you can ask for six sausages or three slices of bacon. If you don't want the eight rashers of bacon in the Asda vacuum pack, tough.

And just in case you thought you could use the three rashers you don't need later, the supermarket ensures you throw them away by stamping the pack with a deadline for use.

Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King has said that at least a quarter of his customers do not understand what "best before" means.

They think it means "bin before" and so throw away food that is perfectly edible.

Well, if one in four of his customers does not understand his labelling system does it not cross Mr. King's mind that he should do something about it?

Like explaining, on the package, how long after the best-before date the food is still useable.

But in any case, for those millions living alone, a vast amount of supermarket food is bought as ready meals.

And if a purchaser leaves a fifth of a Lancashire Hotpot or a tenth of a cottage pie, what is he or she supposed to do with that?

Which is why lectures on food wastage, like that one delivered by Prime Minister Brown, are not just aimed at entirely the wrong people but are so out of touch with 21st century reality that they amount to patronising bilge.

Unless Gordon can come up with a recipe for left-overs that will use up two spoonfuls of lamb curry, two slices of bacon, three ounces of cheese and a rapidly decaying apricot.