Fresh food over a year old

[WendyS]

Did anybody see the article in yesterday's Telegraph reporting that much so-called "fresh food" (fruit & vegetables) sold in supermarkets is actually up to a year old, having been treated with chemicals or some other process & kept in storage? Short of buying straight from farm shops, farmers' markets or growing our own, how can we avoid this stuff? Perhaps we need to start a campaign, every time we reach a supermarket till, by asking for the manager to be called, to question him about the age of the products. If their tills were continually disrupted by disgruntled consumers maybe supermarkets would take more notice. Writing protest letters doesn't seem to make an impact.

[nickmo]

Hi Wendy *. *** the nail on the head there. Haven't yet seen the article but its exactly the sort of thing I have been banging on about to people for ages. The veg might say eat by xx/xx date, but just ask when it was picked/lifted etc. 1 example - potatoes will keep for 2 years in store - delicious when then used for making crisps, and then add on the 16 week shelf life. Yum...

I have to promote the operation of farmers' markets round the UK. There are now some 500+, as well as 3000 farm shops, plus 250 pick your own and 250 home box schemes in opeation, all offering fresh produce. Note that 90% of the organic goods in the shops come from overseas though, so if you want an ethical as well as ecological shopping trip, stay local again and avoid the supermarket.

I know it is a cultural thing to stop using 1 shop all the time, but if you want to support local businesses, and that could just be greengrocers, fishmongers etc. then the quality and high service from the farm shops,etc has got to be worth the experience.

I do have a vested interest in this in having recently starting a magazine for the farmers' markets circuits (called FreeRange) as well as running another business at the markets for a few years. Prince charles recently said '... we will never eliminate the s/market, but think of what you are buying the next time you are in one, and seek the alternative....' and that is so right. Challenge the s/markets and look for the better option!

Have a look at 'Shopped' by Joanna Blythman and 'Not on the Label' by Felicity Lawrence and you won't want to eat s/market food again.......

It is about thinking aboout our food - good grief, I love food, and its all I eat, so I want to make sure I am getting the best quality I can, not something pumped full of chemicals and stuff for the sake of it. Good thing to highlight this!!!

[PhilBy]

I use my local butcher and local market for fresh veg & fruit but my wife still uses the supermarket and brings home bags of bland, tasteless stuff.

Who honestly likes supermarket tomotoes ...... they look like tomotoes, they feel like tomotoes but taste of absolutely nothing (About the same flavour as a supermarket chicken but with slightly different texture) and yet they sell them by the wagon load! .......... Has the world gone mad or what, do people not know what good food tastes like anymore or have they sacrificed it for the sake of convenience?

Stuff Lord Sainsbury, stuff hypercritical Jamie Oliver I say give us good, unmolested food!

[STEVEC-J]

I'm half way through 'shopped', can't put it down, though it's what I and many people have suspected for a long time. I live in the country, (monmouthshire) and I am having trouble finding genuine, unmolested fruit and veg to purchase every few days, (mainly for juicing). Farmers markets are not frequent enough, and how do I know that stall holders at regular markets are not sourcing their products either directly or indirectly from the same places as the supermarkets, whether the stallholders know it or not, maybe it's the stuff rejected for not conforming to supermarkets 'standards'.

[tiger104]

Hi Someone has just lent me a book on the the Supermarket Frenzy, its at work, i cant remember what its called but if you would like to know, I will tell you, but it really has opened my eyes about supermarkets on the whole, and it has made me change quite a few of my shopping habbits.....

A real eye opener !