SAFEWAY supermarket in Devizes has said it is confident that environmental health officers will give a clean bill of health to its freezer units following complaints from a customer.

Dave Stout, from Devizes, a regular customer at the store, phoned the Gazette saying that staff refused to take his concerns seriously.

Mr Stout, whose work includes the transporting of frozen food, said: "I was in the store one day and noticed that some of the food in the freezer was soggy and soft.

"I spoke to a member of staff about it. They said they knew about it and were doing something about it. I went back later on and nothing had been done.

"The next time I was in the store I noticed that part had been emptied.

"But after that I checked the freezer units regularly and saw temperatures on 25 out of the 42 units well above the minus 18 degrees Celsius they are supposed to be at by law. I have spoken to the duty managers and they told me there is no problem.

"If meat, chicken or fish falls below the right temperature and is refrozen, it can be very dangerous.

"I will continue to shop at Safeway, I just won't buy any frozen goods."

A spokesman for the store denied there was any problem with their freezer units.

He said: "I have spoken to the gentleman and told him that the temperature displayed on the thermometers is the temperature of the unit, not the temperature of the food. If the food dropped below the correct temperature an alarm would sound and we would know about it.

"We can assure our customers that all the food in our freezers is perfectly fit to eat."

Mandy Bradley, head of environmental health at Kennet District Council confirmed that the freezer units at Safeway are alarmed and would sound if there was a problem with temperatures.

She said: "Members of staff are constantly monitoring the units with temperature probes. Our officers visit the store several times a year to make sure everything is all right and we have received no complaints from the public.

"It is in Safeway's interests to make sure their freezers are working correctly as they can't afford to lose stock."

But she said that an environmental health officer would visit the store to make sure that there were no problems with freezers or chilled units.

At their meeting on Tuesday evening, Devizes town councillors proposed no objections to an outline planning application for an extension to Safeway's store.