Top chef weighs in on Tesco hummus as row over lids rumbles on

A top chef has weighed in on the Tesco hummus row after MailOnline exclusively revealed that the supermarket giant removed the much loved dip's lid and replaced it with a 'flimsy' cover as part of 'ongoing efforts to tackle plastic waste'.

Itamar Srulovich, co-owner of the Middle Eastern restaurant Honey & Co, revealed that people should not even be eating Tesco's attempt at the eastern Mediterranean dip - whether it has a lid on it or not.

Srulovich, who has worked in London's hottest kitchens including OXO Tower and Yotam Ottolenghi's famous first site in Notting Hill, slammed the supermarket version of hummus as 'atrociously bad'.

'Even compared to other pre-prepared foods, this is really down there,' he told the Times. 'I'm not one to preach but this gives me a little twist in the heart.'

With a successful Middle Eastern restaurant franchise and multiple bestselling cookbooks to his name, Srulovich urged all hummus lovers scorned by the lid fiasco to try and make their own.

'I promise it's so easy,' the top chef said. 'It takes seconds.'

Simply take chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice and garlic and whip it up in a food processor.

Srulovich's advice comes after Tesco made the drastic call this month to ditch the plastic lid on their hummus, replacing it with a 'flimsy plastic cover'. Shoppers slammed the supermarket for making what they deemed a 'hum-ungous error'

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While a spokesperson for the British supermarket said the move would 'remove more than 31 million pieces of plastic' from their stores, some customers are vehemently opposed to the new packaging.

Author Laura Pearson took to X - formerly known as Twitter - to say: 'I'm so baffled about Tesco removing the plastic lid from hummus and replacing it with a flimsy plastic cover which requires me to now cover it with clingfilm or similar. 

'How is that helping anyone?'

One man commented: 'I don't find this change to hummus hummourous at all!' 

Another shopper agreed and said: 'The removal of the plastic lid means a) I have to put secondary cling film on b) the food slops around and is wasted c) the food goes off faster and is wasted… whoever thought this was good for the environment was entirely wrong.'

A spokesman for Tesco insisted that the change had no impact on shelf life and that the hummus should still be consumed within two days of opening as before.

And some seemed to take Tesco's side, praising the supermarket for their 'green' packaging change in light of global warming.

MailOnline took to the streets of London to speak to shoppers and find out what they really think about the controversial change.

Cameece Maddis, 32 and Adrian Holloway, 28 suggested they were not a fan of the move and questioned the logic behind the new packaging.

Ms Maddis said: 'I have to now wrap it with foil instead because it always goes off quicker.

'It is a good reason (environmental) but I actually wouldn't mind paying extra to have the lid.'

Mr Holloway added: 'It definitely doesn't last as long without a re-sealable lid where you can reseal it or keep it fresh longer.

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It's a hum-ungous error! Tesco shoppers' fury over flimsy hummus tub covers instead of plastic lids

'It still works against making it fresh so it doesn't really make sense in the long-run.

'We'd have to hurry up and eat it before it goes off. You'd definitely have to rush instead of enjoying it as you'd like.'

Allaister, 28, a businessman who was out in London with his friend, aged 35, questioned the 'scientific method' Tesco had used to test out the hypothesis that hummus freshness was unaffected. 

Allaister said: 'It is a pressing thing because unless you eat the whole hummus tub in one sitting then that packaging thing is a bit defective really, isn't it?'

His friend went so far as to say if they had changed the lid they may well have 'changed the whole thing' and 'made it out of wood'.

A YouGov poll earlier this year revealed that hummus was the UK's favourite dip, so it is no wonder this packaging change has sent numerous shoppers into a rage.

But Tony Spar, a 71-year-old retiree, who MailOnline spoke to appeared to support the move.

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Mr Spar said: 'It's better – the lid didn't go on very easily. The lid was quite tight whereas with this the film it just flicks back.'

But he added he thought Tesco were 'not going far enough.'

'The other day when I did my shopping at Tesco I had this great pile of plastic.

'I think they can do a lot more - I notice that Tesco now do a cardboard base with a top like that on their meat. It's a step in the right direction but it's not far enough,' he said.

Responding to the controversy, a Tesco spokesperson said: 'We have recently removed the lids on our hummus pots as part of our ongoing efforts to tackle plastic waste. This latest change will remove more than 31 million pieces of plastic – equivalent to 157 tonnes of plastic a year.'

In the search for chickpea-ce, MailOnline has approached the supermarket for further comment.