Fresh (fish but spoiled veggies) Direct - Why?

[AdinaA]

Why is it that Fresh Direct manages to do a super job with fresh fish (not all markets do) But i find that Fresh Direct brings reliably fresh fish.

While I'm on the topic, their Verlasso farmed salmon form Chilean Patagonia is outstanding. Farmed salmon is often fatty and mushy-soft. This is firm and consistently excellent.

So, my quesiton is why can they do a consistent job delivering fish while it is fresh, but regularly bring overripe fruit and vegetables. Grapes that are soft and about to go bad, soft zucchini, rubbery broccoli, green beans with brown squishy ends.

Not always, sometimes the fruit and veggies are fine. But often they are not.

Why? Is there something that makes a produce dept. harder to run than a seafood department?

[dyrewolf]

Had the Verlasso Salmon the other night (premium, center cut)... really really good fish.. a little olive oil, salt and pepper was all it needed before cooking on the George Foreman to really shine

[foodwhisperer]

i wont order from Fresh Direct again. I have had vegetables with cat pee on them. I've seen the delivery guy put some orders on the sidewalk, run up to deliver another one and come back for the ones he left., I have had worms in my fish 3 times. They should know how to check for that.
My grandmother would say " not Fresh Direct, but Fresh Drek"

[loratliff]

Worms in predator fish are a huge problem along the Atlantic coast—it's an industry problem, and actually not a terrible thing as only super fresh fish will have live worms. You're just as likely to have them in anything you buy from Citarella or Lobster Place too. Fishmongers try to remove them as best they can, but obviously they're small and oversights happen.

[foodwhisperer]

too many oversights for me. Some of the parasites are not that small, you just have to know how to recognize them. Cod is notorious for worms that is true. A good fish monger can spot them. If the fish is cooked enough the worms will die, but these days people make fish pretty rare. Something to watch out for in restaurants as well.

[meinNYC]

I have had several meat deliveries that were just too fatty and gristely to be used. They always refund your purchase price it you complain. Fruit is usually underripe, but berries are overripe.

[foodmonk]

I have been a customer for four or five years and have maybe had a problem with fruits and vegetables once. I was hesitant about getting fish the first time, but it's all been really great.

[loratliff]

Same. We've gotten a weekly delivery for more than a year now and I think the only produce I've ever lodged a complaint about was basil that was a bit past its prime. I've been ordering a lot of broccoli lately and it's all been crisp and dark green.

I would not be ordering zucchini and green beans in January and expecting them to be perfect, but that's just me.

[foodmonk]

Maybe we've just been lucky? Some of these other complaints sound pretty extreme. As far as another comment about meat being too fatty and gristly -- that really depends on the cut rather than the quality of the meat.

[City Kid]

Count me among the lucky ones. Though Costco had filled a need for me that non longer necessitates FD so much, my experiences with FD have been generally good. Very fresh fish and the occasional problem with produce, immediately rectified, though most has excellent. Anything is possible, I suppose, but cat pee, as one poster says? Really?

[dyrewolf]

Funny, I find the same about their fish and meat but the fruit I got is under ripe and never ripens right... Peaches that go from wood to mush