Supermarket Secrets revealed?

N9eav

I am having relatives over for a BBQ tonight. They watched the program and now refuse to eat any of my BBq meat unless the chicken does'nt come from one of those types of farms, but they would love some good sausages...... Less healthy option but kinder on the animal? Who knows.... they will get what they are given....

Loadsabob

Though they are from Tesco :mad: , my boyfriend had their Organic pork sausages recently. The price wasn't bad (compared to the price difference between some organic and non-organic meat). I think these were Soil Association approved, which give some assurance of welfare, and they were mostly meat. What wasn't was organic wholemeal breadcrumbs and herbs. He said they were some of the best sausages he's ever tasted!

Loadsabob

gritts wrote:

The message seemed to be that some special offers are not that 'special' at all but it allows the big supermarkets the chance to stick up huge signs letting us now they are lowering prices and then tricking us to buy more.

I've noticed this a lot lately. I can't remember where I was recently, where there was a huge sign that suggested a special offer, saying "2 for £3" or something, but the individual price was £1.50!!!! Made me laugh. I guess they're doing in more and more, relying on the people who just see a big luminous sign and assume there's a saving attached. And I bet a lot of people do just that; shows how brainwashed the nation has become!

lipidicman

Its nothing to do with being brainwashed. There have always been easily led, practically innumerate or frankly uninterested people around. You can't blame the supermarkets for special offers which aren't that special. Or signs which are bigger than the others. The supermarkets have whole departments dedicated to selling what they want to sell. It is the customers responsibility to be savvy and aware of this. You had to shop around when the world was full of quaint little shops and you had to know where to go to get the quality you demand. In those respects it is no different.

competitionscafe

More chicken horror stories coming soon to a small screen near you:

Real Story BBC1
Mon 15 Aug, 7:30 pm - 8:00 pm 30mins

Fiona Bruce investigates the hidden dangers lurking in your dinner and finds the widespread presence of antibiotic resistant superbugs contaminating chicken destined for the table.

Stereo Widescreen

Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/realstory

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/listings/programme.shtml?day=monday&service_id=4223&filename=20050815/20050815_1930_4223_9768_30

And...

<"A sharp rise in the number of men requesting breast- reduction operations is being blamed by surgeons on the effects of excess female hormones in tap water and food.

Clinics are reporting a doubling in the number of operations being carried out over just one year. According to surgeons, the male breasts examined are similar in structure to those of women and are not simply fat deposits caused by overeating.

They believe the condition, called gynecomastia, is caused by traces of the female contraceptive pill in tap water and hormones used to promote the growth of farm animals. ">

Full article:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1715014,00.html

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Loadsabob

lipidicman wrote:

Its nothing to do with being brainwashed. There have always been easily led, practically innumerate or frankly uninterested people around. You can't blame the supermarkets for special offers which aren't that special. Or signs which are bigger than the others. The supermarkets have whole departments dedicated to selling what they want to sell. It is the customers responsibility to be savvy and aware of this. You had to shop around when the world was full of quaint little shops and you had to know where to go to get the quality you demand. In those respects it is no different.

Sorry, I missed your post before. I don't know, I think that IS being brainwashed, a mass of consumers who buy anything with a big bright sign because it suggests to them that it's a special offer? It's the power of suggestion, and I don't think the supermarkets are wrong to capitalise on that, it's only marketing, and a lot of marketing is manipulation. To an extent, I think people get the quality of item and offer that they deserve, and if people don't pay attention and compare, they deserve to get ripped off. You can shop in supermarkets and NOT get ripped off. They're playing a game with shoppers, and a lot of shoppers aren't good at the game, that's all. My beefs about supermarkets don't really extend to fake "offers", that's just something I've observed more blatently lately. But it doesn't offend me. My issues with the big four go Waaayy further!

lipidicman

So on this issue we agree! You just call it being brainwashed, but I wouldn't go that far. It's simply an attempt to influence in my opinion

Loadsabob

Yes, I'm a woman, I like dramatic overstatement!! (no sarcasm intended there, I think that really is the case!)

competitionscafe

Take the food monthly food fact test - some interesting stats, including:

# only 8 per cent of meals are cooked from scratch at home, we spent £18 billion on convenience foods last year, which is just as well as only 3 out of 10 of us can actually soft boil an egg and only 20% of under-35s know what a chump or loin is.

# Nearly 50 per cent of young adults are classified as binge drinkers.

# we spent £17.3 billion in supermarkets from April to June this year of which only 0.2 per cent is spent on Fairtrade.

# Conventional farmers can legally use over 300 pesticides - a Cox's apple is often sprayed up to 16 times with as many as 36 different chemicals. It costs £120 million a year to remove those chemicals from our water supply.

# How much does the food industry spend on changing the colour, texture or shelf life of food? Answer: £11 billion. 540 different food additives are available to the food industry. And while we may claim we like our food as natural as possible, we like our food looking perfect even more.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,9950,1546442,00.html

N9eav

competitionscafe wrote:

Take the food monthly food fact test - some interesting stats, including:



# Conventional farmers can legally use over 300 pesticides - a Cox's apple is often sprayed up to 16 times with as many as 36 different chemicals. It costs £120 million a year to remove those chemicals from our water supply.

I wonder if the country can produce enough food for everyone without the help of pesticides and fertilizers? Look at the new houses now, very few have enough room for a vegatable garden. There are few spaces put asside for allotments. We are totally dependant on food producers. What was the last 'makeover' program you saw that did a veggie plot?
Without a potato blight pesticide they would all die.

Even our work canteens have gone. No more cooked food for us. All the company has to provide is something to heat water for a drink and something to warm food (microwave).

Pity but it can only get worse.

Get this too. The new farm subsidies are out this year. The farmer gets paid for 'looking after the land' and not for subsidising crop production. If the farmer shows that he is tending the land then he gets so much money per acre. He does not even have to grow anything. Providing that land can support a crop the following year, all he has to do is grass it and tend it. A farmer with 1000 acres could get about £48,000 a year in payments under the new scheme. He does not have to plant a single seed or keep one chicken. Why bother producing food for the nation?