Would You Like Chemicals or Bacteria With That?

My neighbor recently told me about a seminar she attended where a prominent doctor and several nutrition experts discussed the sorry state of the food industry in the US, and criticized the many additives, preservatives and chemical treatments used to preserve the life of food on the shelves in supermarkets and stores. We discussed this at some length and both agreed that the long term health of everyone was threatened by persistent use of preservatives and pesticides. Even organic food was not considered safe, as this appeared to slip through the net of the overseeing government bodies, leading to food scares like the recent one concerning E-coli in pre-packaged packs of spinach.

I must admit when I came to the US from England I was amazed at the long shelf-life of products which were labeled fresh and free from additives. In England, items such as eggs and milk only had a shelf life of a couple of days, certainly not months and they would "go off" in the refrigerator, if mistakenly kept for a longer time. So, obviously, food in England must be fresh and preservative free, or so you would be led to believe! While reading the BBC's website this morning, I saw an article about the practice of UK supermarkets selling food products, and what lengths they would go to in order to extend the shelf life of products. The reporter got a job as an under cover sales assistant in two of the major food chains in the UK, Sainsburys and Tesco, both in which I have shopped. The food in both these chains always looked fresh and appetizing and they sell a huge selection of meat, fish and dairy produce at reasonable prices.

According to this report, which will be aired on British TV's Whistleblower this evening, food was repackaged and relabeled if it reached its sell-by date, and often the food was re-labelled so many times that the staff did not actually know how old it was, and resorted to sniffing it, and cutting bits of it off, if it didn't look good! Staff were told to apply common sense to ascertaining the freshness of food, and one ex-manager told this reporter that food was often "tarted up" by mixing old batches of food with new. Another manager reassured the concerned reporter/sales assistant by saying that she often ate food from her own refrigerator which was well past its sell-by date, and it was fine. Well, if you choose to do that, it's up to you, but you don't really expect to be buying it when it's already stale.

So, I then have to ask myself, is this the real choice - the UK scenario of the illusion of fresh food which is not really fresh, is mishandled and sold dishonestly as safe to eat - or the situation we have here in the US where I believe the food is labeled and handled correctly, but chemically treated and preserved? At a recent Fancy Food show I attended for my Gourmet Fusion store, I spoke to many small vendors, both from the US and overseas, who had small operations such as wineries, bakeries, and beehives, who had spent years laboriously working through the red tape involved with selling food products to the general public. They produced some amazing results, and I know they would all like to sell more, but what chance do these small vendors have against the giants who appear to circumvent the rules and regulations because of their size? Maybe we need to start looking more carefully at what we buy, and vote with out feet. Incidentally, Sainsbury's have posted a response to the BBC's article on their website, but I couldn't see any response on Tesco's website.