With the recent announcement that Ipswich is perhaps set to get yet another supermarket, this month I am going to give you my opinion on what the supermarkets have done for the quality of the food we eat.

I believe the relentless drive by supermarkets to increase already vast profits, has had a severe detrimental effect on our food, both in terms of quality, choice, sustainability, and ultimately our health. I believe many supermarket policies have directly contributed to some appalling treatment of animal livestock, loss of farming livelihoods, closure of local stores, garages, small holdings, butchers, bakers, and probably a couple of candlestick makers!
In return, they have given us cheap goods, cheap food and the convenience of it all under one cheap roof: or so they would like you to believe. The pressure on farmers from supermarket giants to produce and sell animal and vegetable products, at ever decreasing prices, is intense. This in turn has lead to increasing use of chemicals such as pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics to increase productivity, many of which make there way into the food chain and ultimately in to you!

As for choice, it may seem that you are able to choose from a wide range of different products, but the reality is you can’t. You can only choose what they want you to choose, and as more independent retailers are forced out of business, your choice as a consumer becomes less and less. There is also a colossal amount of food waste. Supermarkets have a policy of simply throwing out food, which in many cases is perfectly edible. I am fortunate enough to live out in the Suffolk countryside where several of the fields grow produce to supply supermarkets, just recently an onion harvest resulted in what must have amounted to tons of onions left to decay, due to being the wrong size or shape, its a bit ridiculous when one really stops to think about it. None of this is new, but we still seem a bit apathetic to do much about it!

A Grocery Supply Code of Practice came into force in February this year, but it will need to be enforced by a strong ombudsman to stop the bullying tactics of supermarkets towards suppliers. Although it may seem I am anti supermarket, that’s not the case, and at the risk of sounding hypocritical: I've used them myself, although I have become very selective about what I buy from them. Supermarkets have a place, but not at the cost of our health, livelihoods, animal welfare, and the way we function as a fair society. Every little doesn't always help... sometimes it hurts. So next time you are thinking about your meat and two veg, it just might be worth considering a trip to your local butcher, greengrocer, market trader or farm shop.

Until next time...you know where to come.

—Ant