Food Stores and Local Business

What Is Wrong With Large Food Stores?

Yes, it is practical to buy all sorts of items under the same store to save time, but is also a way for the large stores to “plug” all sorts of junk we do not need, making the store a large profit.               

Fair Trade                                                               
Large stores contribute to small farmers going out of business because they cannot compete or survive selling at cost. 

For a farmer to get a decent price, often they need to cut costs and corners, and often it is the workers that suffer with poor working conditions and low wages. 

Why are Governments not doing enough to regulate this?  They get paid enough money to “run” the country/state of affairs!  All sorts of excuses are given for lack
of regulating guidelines, but bottom line who is responsible for making the rules?

The emphasis is mainly on the consumer to choose on buying fair trade, of course most of us are going to be tempted by lower prices, particularly in times of recession.

The main issue here is the profit discrepancy. Why is it that the farmer is lucky to get a 10% margin when large stores are making at least 200% profit margin thanks
to blood and sweat of the poor farm worker.  It is about time that the food “fat cats” share their profits around.

The problem is not just the consumer buying Fair Trade but it is the fact that food stores are making all the profits, leaving farmers out of pocket in the process.

Local Economy       
Large food stores drive small shops out of business with their buying
power by selling at really low prices.

The small local store is then lost forever along with the traditional knowledge, fresh produce and great customer service.
A chain of food stores takes over the economy and the profit is then sent elsewhere, often abroad.  This creates  a low economy for the local community that relies on the local trade.

Again this is blamed on the consumer, but are the Fat Cats not buying from local farmers?  Because they would not get their 200% profit, probably only 100% profit and it is never enough to pay for their expensive marketing campaigns like 1 million pounds advertising on TV.                                       
So, who is really paying for this?  We are, but also at the cost of the local farmer’s bread and butter.

Product Quality                                                                   
The consumer buys in large food stores because it is convenient and cheap, but are we getting a good deal?   

 
Food is genetically modified to produce more, but where is the guarantee that the nutritional value is there when its natural properties are changed.  What is the potential risk to the consumer?

Think about it, if chemicals are inserted to foods to make them grow bigger, there is a likelihood that consuming  this product will also makes us bigger?  It is not a coincidence that we are getting more problems with obesity!  Not all down to habits of eating more but also for consuming products specifically manufactured with bulk up materials that have no nutritional value to human diet.

What starts as fresh produce, is then shipped in large containers for thousands of miles and then sold in stores 2 weeks later.  By then the quality of the ingredients has been compromised. Not to mention the carbon food print on these products.

Even though large food stores can stock exotic ingredients, they cannot provide local vast varieties of the same product.

Let’s take a look at the French green beans for example.  UK buys this ingredient from Africa.

African farmers are told by large superstores that all green beans must be straight looking and must be uniform in size and shape, supposedly this is because the consumer wants this.

This results in farmers having a surplus stock which they cannot sell because it does not meet superstore standard.

Another example is sweet red peppers which are exported from the Netherlands; again these have to be uniform in shape and size. The same reason is given by the superstores, because it is what the consumer expects.

I suspect the truth is that the so called Marketing experts advise superstores that the new psychology behind having uniform shape products makes the food area look more attractive and easier to appeal to the consumer.

If this was true, why is that some local grocery shops still survive by selling traditional and local fresh produce with all sorts of shapes and sizes available. 

Consumers go out of their way to seek fresh produce and are often willing to pay more for them.  Because these ingredients are fresh and of good quality, you can actually taste the ingredient for its true flavour.

What I would like to know is how do food store experts know that we prefer our vegetables looking the same?
Because I certainly do not remember filling out a questionnaire!

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