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Milk price war heats up, but the real question is why would you buy it?

February 15th, 2011 2 comments

Vested interests are mounting a major campaign with the price of milk right now and between the farmers, processors and retailers the politics is heating up. How can the major supermarkets sell a litre of milk for less than $1 and what are the consequences of this?

Intensive dairy farming

Intensive dairy farming

To me, the more important question (aside from the effects on the farmers themselves) is what happens to the quality of food when prices are forced so low? Let me illustrate with a recent trip to the supermarket looking for tomato paste. Woolworths had their Select own brand, but where were the ingredients from? China, the home of melamine milk. Leggo’s had another bottle that was packed in Australia with local and imported ingredients, which could have come from China as well for all we know. But the Leggo’s 500g Tomato past with no added salt (even better) won the day with made in Australia from local ingredients. I couldn’t even tell you the price because that’s not even a factor in these matters.

The point is that most of these no brand or Woolworth’s and Cole’s brands and Aldi too for that matter simply outsource their ingredient fulfilling to the cheapest provider. I am sure quality and the integrity of the ingredients is a poor second to price.

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How much government intervention is required for a healthy population?

November 8th, 2009 No comments
The Weekend Australian (3/10/2009) printed a very telling article by Christian Kerr titled Backlash looms on smoking, drinking. The article quotes a leading social trend researcher, Neer Korn from Heartbeat Trends – “People just don’t want outsiders to interfere, particularly government or corporations, in their own private lives. They’re very sensitive. You can’t tell people anything negative”.

 

Mr Korn seems quite alarmed at the recommendations of the recent National Preventative Health Taskforce report which floated among other things higher taxes on fatty foods, cigarettes and alcohol and a ban on TV advertising of junk foods. The telling thing in this article is the politics and the sneaky way vested interests are protected, while the wellbeing of the public are largely ignored.

 

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