Where do you buy your food

If it is in a supermarket in the UK, here's all the rotten details from an undercover scoop by BBC. This isn't new. Those in the US have grown up with the likes of Walmart and McDonald's for years. Compared to the US giants, the UK supermarkets are toddlers, still they pack the same sick punch that's the hallmark of obscenely large businesses.

Mass production and consumption is, as everyone knows, not geared towards quality; in the case of food, quality is treated strictly as a legal issue, and is met in word, not in the spirit of the word. From the origin to it's eventual sale, there's little stake for those involved to maintain actual quality of food. As in a war, perception of reality is more important than 'real' reality. The supplier is squeezed for profit, the delivery guys dump and run, and the counter staff recycle food long past expiry dates. Unsuspecting customers buy cheap and glow at the store and fall sick at home with their ill-advised purchases.

The BBC repoter notes that she lost six kilos in the four months that was spent behind the scenes at Sainsbury and Tesco, the leading supermarkets in the UK. A lesson she is never going to forget. The program airs on BBC One tonight at 9.

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This is why we buy our groceries at a local co-op where they pay attention to where products come from and how they are produced. We also have a vegetable share from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. We receive a 1/2 to 3/4 bushel box of fresh organic produce weekly for 30 weeks each year. We purchase organic, pasture-fed beef from the same farm.

It is vital for everyone to get to know your grocers and their suppliers to the best of your ability. This is the only way for folks to feel more secure in their food supply.