UK - The New chief executive at Asda, Andy Clarke, has confirmed, in a Gerald Ratner moment, what its shoppers all know. That the food for sale in its superstores 'is not up to scratch.'

Mr Clarke, who started in May, was trying to explain falling sales over the past three months, when Asda lost market share to rivals Sainsbury's and Morrison's.

Now dropping a bollock on this sort of scale is not that unusual, but when it is your first speech as Asda chief executive and an attempt to explain why sales have fallen. its gotta be a big one.

A spokesman insisted he had not said anything was actually wrong with Asda's food  -  just that it could be better.

He said: 'We are confident our food is good and very excited about what we are doing in the next few weeks. There has been a lot of work going on behind the scenes.'

But a former Asda staff said that they went to Morrison's because the prices and quality of the food.

Asda customers that the Bastard talked to said that it wasn't just the poor quality of the food that put them off the supermarket, but the whole shopping experience from the lousy Asda FM blasting from the loud speakers at mind shattering volume to the special offers being sold out minutes after they are announced and the shelves not being refilled until after the offer expires.