Woolworths shopper outraged by 'frozen' hot cross buns on display
The shopper said the hot day did not justify the Woolworths hot cross buns being frozen and she refused to buy them.
Easter has well and truly arrived at Woolworths with chocolate eggs, themed lollies and hot cross buns taking over supermarket shelves. Yet one shopper has been left less than impressed by the Easter staples after she found a pack of six hot cross buns frozen solid in store.
The woman was visiting a store in South Australia with her fiancé when the couple decided they wanted a sweet treat and headed over to the bakery section. After setting their sights on the hot cross buns they were shocked by their condition.
"Can someone please tell me why we went to Woolies to get food, and we went to buy hot cross buns and they're frozen. All of them," the shopper said.
She admitted it was a hot "40 degree" day but this didn't justify why the baked goods were so cold, especially as they were not being stored in a fridge — with the couple not suggesting any other unexpected item was cold. They confirmed they left the store without purchasing the hot cross buns.
"So yeah, we're not buying them anymore," she said.
Woolworths workers react to hot cross buns video
After sharing her experience online the shopper was inundated with comments and several people claiming to be Woolworths workers, suggesting the "majority" of baked goods from the in-store bakeries are frozen.
"Woolies employee here!! 95 per cent of the bakery is frozen," one said, while others alleged hot cross buns are actually made in advance so a large volume can be available all at once over the Easter period.
"Former Tip Top [bakery] employee here, they start making them in October the previous year and they are then frozen," another said.
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Supermarket explains why some buns are frozen
Woolworths confirmed to Yahoo News on Monday stores that don’t have a full production bakery receive frozen hot cross buns. The supermarket said 700 stores across the country do have an in-store bakery.
"In some cases, where a store doesn’t have a full bakery, we will send baked items directly from one of our suppliers to ensure customers across all our stores don’t miss out," a Woolworths spokesperson said.
Some other bakery products are delivered to Woolworths stores frozen for various reasons including to maintain product freshness, or to ensure there is no cross-contamination for special products, for example gluten free, or to ensure consistency in products.
Yahoo understands the tactic of bringing in frozen bakery goods is used across Australia's supermarkets. In 2015, Coles was fined $2.5 million for claiming frozen bread was freshly baked in-store.
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