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A study has revealed which supermarkets have the shortest and longest use-by dates on food ordered online.
In a new analysis by consumer group Which? perishable food from Waitrose was found to have the shortest use-by dates of the six major supermarkets for online orders.
These are Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons and Ocado. Lidl and Aldi don't offer online food deliveries.
The research found that perishable goods ordered via a Waitrose online shop typically had a remaining use-by date of 7.7 days.
The supermarket said it had removed preservatives from some of its foods following customer feedback.
Which? said Waitrose had the lowest average use-by dates for several of the items it ordered including scones, bread, fresh pasta sauce, houmous, fresh tagliatelle and pork sausages.
The consumer group said one online Waitrose shopper received beef mince with just 1.2 days left before it went off, and another got chicken thighs with 1.6 days left.
Which? said Waitrose had also been the most expensive supermarket in its monthly price comparison of around 90 grocery items since September 2024.
Fresh: Asda was the freshest supermarket in the investigation, with perishable items that had use-by dates averaging 11 days from delivery
A Waitrose spokesperson told This is Money: 'We are committed to offering the freshest and highest quality products, reflected in our growing online grocery sales.
'And in response to increasing customer demand for products with simpler ingredients, we have removed preservatives from some of the items in this analysis where they are common, including our houmous.
'Our online grocery pickers are trained to choose the longest dated products they can, and our most recent customer survey showed that the vast majority of our online customers rated the shelf life of our products as good or excellent.'
According to Which?, Tesco had the second-shortest use by dates of any supermarket analysed, with shoppers receiving food with average remaining use-by dates of 8.8 days in their online shop.
Which? said: 'Tesco's website says those ordering online can expect four or more days of shelf life on its toffee sundae pot, but one shopper received one with just over half a day left.
'Another got a fresh pasta sauce and pork sausages, both with 3.4 days of life left, despite Tesco claiming a typical shelf life of a week for the sauce and five days for the sausages.'
A spokesperson for Tesco said: 'We work hard to select the freshest items with the longest expiry dates for all our Grocery Home Shopping delivery and Click + Collect orders and we highlight any items that have a shorter shelf life than we would like as part of our Freshness Guarantee.
'If customers are not happy with any items at the time of delivery or collection, they can hand them back for a full refund.'
Sainsbury's was ranked third worst in the grocery freshness rankings, Which? said. Its analysis found that online shoppers typically received fresh produce with a use-by date of 10.2 days.
Average use-by dates for fresh produce for Ocado orders came in at 10.4 days, the same as Morrisons.
A spokesperson for Ocado said: 'We are proud of our Fresh+ promise, making us the only UK online grocery retailer to offer a life guarantee on all fresh products.
'Our promise guarantees a minimum number of days of freshness on products ranging from fruit and veg to bread and milk, ensuring customers can trust Ocado to deliver the freshness they are looking for on each and every delivery.
'If customers aren't 100 per cent happy with a product's freshness, they can easily arrange an immediate refund online or through our app.'
Morrisons said: 'We always strive to ensure we deliver items with more than the advertised shelf life and in great condition. If items are received with a shorter life than indicated the customer can reject the item on the doorstep or request a refund through the website or app, or by calling our Customer Services team.'
Asda was crowned the best supermarket for longer use-by dates in online orders, dishing out perishable goods with an average use-by date of 11 days.
A spokesperson for Asda told This is Money: 'Freshness matters to our customers, so it's great to see Which? find that Asda delivers the freshest groceries overall.
'We've worked hard to improve our online delivery service and availability, and we're committed to making sure customers get fresh, quality produce and outstanding value, every time they shop with us.'
This is Money also contacted Sainsbury's for comment.
Hit-and-miss online shopping as grocery prices look set to rise
Which? recruited 12 mystery shoppers from across Britain to order the same list of 29 fresh groceries from Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose over a two-week period. More than 2,000 perishable goods were ordered and delivered.
The analysis revealed how hit and miss use-by dates can be, as shoppers have no control over which items supermarket pickers select for them.
It said three packs of beef mince, one from Morrisons and two from Waitrose, and two packs of chicken thighs, one from Sainsbury’s and another from Waitrose, arrived with a use-by date the day after delivery, and two packs of cod, from Asda and Tesco, needed to be used within two days.
Three items at Sainsbury's, sweetcorn and two packs of basil, had a best-before date on the same day as delivery. One pack of Marks & Spencer basil via Ocado was said to be 'limp and wilted' when it arrived.
Receiving food with a short use-by or best before date is problematic as it is a waste of money and often leads to food being thrown out if it cannot be cooked or eaten in time.
It comes as food prices are set to rise. Food inflation eased to 1.7 per cent in the year to June, but is expected to increase following a summer of extreme weather and greater use of imports.