Hunt the product was a game giving our shoppers the biggest headache this week. At Asda bacon was on offer but the shelf where it should have been was bare. By a sheer fluke, our shopper spotted a whole stack in a completely different area where it would have been easy to miss. Pasta shells were hard to find at the NE Co-op. None were on the allocated shelf, but they were discovered on a gondola end being offered free with Homepride sauces. And at Tesco, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Anchor Spreadable, bacon, McCain Home Fries and Birds Eye fish fingers all had different prices on the till receipt than that shown on the shelf edge. Congested aisles compounded the problem. Waitrose and Sainsbury aisles were clogged with packing trolleys and shelf stackers. Two aisles were blocked at Asda, and at Tesco there were four trolleys waiting to be unloaded in the fruit and veg section and only one person to do it. Staff appeared to be under pressure at Morrisons because it was busy. Aisles were congested and staff on the shop floor were not helpful when asked for assistance. Help to pack at the checkout was also seldom offered, this week's culprits being Tesco, Safeway, Sainsbury, Somerfield and Waitrose. Twelve out of stocks were noted, Sainsbury and Somerfield faring the worst. Sainsbury had run out of staples such as onions and potatoes and Somerfield had no McCain Home Fries and Birds Eye fish fingers. In addition, Tesco is still having supply problems with pasta shells. This store also failed to charge for Walkers crisps which slipped passed the scanner. Waitrose and Morrisons were the only two stores which checked in full baskets and Morrisons was the cheapest at £38.52. {{GROCER 33 }}

Topics