Supermarkets create the illusion of choice

[TalkingDog]

http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/supermarkets-create-illusion-choice-shoppers-its-not-real.htm

The Food & Water Watch has just released a report announcing that the selection in supermarkets is mostly a mirage. According to a press release:

“The biggest food manufacturers offer multiple brands in each type of grocery, giving consumers the false impression that they’re choosing between competing products when in fact all the sales can go to the same company.”

Many supermarkets have consolidated, resulting in fewer food companies controlling production and sales.

The F&WW report, titled “Grocery Goliaths: How Food Monopolies Impact Consumers,” in pdf form at link: http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/grocery_goliaths.pdf

[JaneyVee]

2. Yup, I'm the same way. It's all about the ingredients.

[TalkingDog]

3. So you read the report?

n/t

[KittyWampus]

5. The article discusses how consolidation/monopolies are forcing higher prices. So Silk COSTS

more.

[KittyWampus]

14. Edensoy is my preferred soy milk and it is getting hard to find… probably because monopolies

the big conglomerates force their brands to be carried and take up shelf space.

Waldbaum's grocery story replaced Edensoy with Green Way which I believe is either affiliated w/Waldbaum's.

There is one small local grocer who carries it still and the health food store (where it's marked up quite a bit).

You've just had me wonder if I should start ordering it online.

Buying a case of 12 shipped directly from Edensoy costs $42.43 for the Original Organic which breaks down to about $3.50 each.

[KittyWampus]

18. Ah, you are ahead of me… I just did the math and you are correct.

[KittyWampus]

23. Used to have a whole stack of Okara recipes… from the stone age before the internets.

Good luck on your ventures.

[KittyWampus]

20. Vitacost.com if you buy $10 of Vitacost products you get free shipping. They have a huge variety

of "alternative" and vegan/vegetarian stuff etc.

I get bulk coconut oil and the few supplements I use from them.

Their Edensoy is on sale now there for $2.75.

[Freddie]

27. Eden Foods is right-wing owned

They are suing to get out of the contraception requirement like Hobby Lobby.
Since many folks who buy organic/natural foods are also of the leftward persuasion, this should be publicized.

[KittyWampus]

28. I just searched it. The CEO is an idiot. Not happy about this. Thanks for telling me

[RebelOne]

31. I prefer Silk soy milk.

The vanilla and chocolate flavors are like drinking a milk shake.

[Freddie]

40. My granddaughter drinks Silk

3 years old, allergic to milk (gets a slight rosy rash on her face). She goes through a half gallon of the Very Vanilla (purple container) in 2 days. You're right, it tastes like a milkshake, no wonder she loves the stuff.

[KittyWampus]

42. That's because of the sugar.

[Shandris]

41. I only buy Silk Soy and...

...Almond now. The almond is really good over cereal, and mixes pretty well with Quik for the occasional treat.

It's more expensive than milk of course, but imo its so much better - and I was a milk lover all my life. I was very pleasantly surprised by it!

[4lbs]

4. For example, all those dozens of names of cereals are usually owned by one of 3 companies:

Kelloggs, Post, or General Mills.

Cheerios, Total, Chex, or Wheaties? Hmm.... General Mills doesn't care, it makes all of them.


Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Special K, or Frosted Flakes? Kelloggs doesn't care, it makes all of them.


Raisiin Bran, Grape Nuts, Shredded Wheat, or Honey Bunches of Oats? Post makes all of them.

[KittyWampus]

6. I just looked at cereals yesterday (looking for Cream of Rice). Boxes of dry cereal are around $5

The consolidation and monopolization of our supply is allowing these higher prices.

[AngryAmish]

7. I have to say I've always been a Kellogg man

Except when I was a kid, then I was a Kellogg kid. And I eat about a bowl of cereal a year, maybe less.

Let me amend my remarks - I was a Kellogg kid. I almost never eat cereal anymore.


There.

[HappyMe]

9. I like a bunch of those cereals you listed there.

Wheaties make a good late night snack.

[Niceguy1]

32. doesn't matter they're made by the same people

they are all different and have different flavors

[laundry_queen]

10. That's the flaw in capitalism

Eventually it all trends towards monopoly. The food industry has been consolidating like crazy for years. It's a stacked game.

[The2ndWheel]

12. E pluribus unum

[FiveGoodMen]

39. Irony with a bite!

[closeupready]

11. For the majority of my groceries, I don't shop at supermarkets.

I go to Costco or the deli nearby.

I make nearly all my meals from scratch, and am very careful about what foods I consume.

Nearly all big brand processed foods contain GMO ingredients, preservatives, sugars, and artificial flavors. How nutritious does a box of chemicals really sound?

[ag_dude]

25. Why do you put GMOs in the same group as...

...preservatives, sugars, and artificial flavors?

[closeupready]

30. Because GMO interests, like yourself, lobby Congress

in order to keep the truth from consumers.

[ag_dude]

33. Like myself?

Please, do tell.

Is your lumping them together based on science?

edit:For the record, we don't raise crops any longer, just cattle. Even that is basically only a hobby, I'm an enviro engineer. I just like questioning the agricultural luddites such as yourself. I find it funny that every argument you guys have ends up going back to some boggy man argument involving Monsanto and paying off the government.

[closeupready]

34. right, because 'ag dude' has nothing to do with anything.

[ag_dude]

36. I just gave more depth to my reply.

But yes, I'm involved in agriculture and always have been. We haven't had row crops since the 80s though.

If you think lobbying congress is a reason to avoid a type of food, you will starve to death. FARFA is a very prominent one.

Again, is your lumping them together based on science?

[ag_dude]

38. Do you think "ag" is evil?

[ryan_cats]

13. Is it me or is anyone else having massive inflation at their normal store...

Is it me or is anyone else having massive inflation at their normal store? We go to either Safeway or Bel Air and it seems like prices have doubled in the last year. The cost of fuel has gone down so what is the cause of this supermarket-wide price inflation, greed?
My salary hasn't doubled.
This is not good for folks living paycheck to paycheck and even the big stores like Winco and Costco have gone up; don't know about Wall Mart, won't shop there.

[ag_dude]

37. The CPI for food across all sectors went up about 1.5% over the past year.

About 6-7% for vegetables.

[bvar22]

15. Supermarkets create the illusion of choice?

WOW.
Same thing with our elections.

[sendero]

19. Lol...

... yes, unfortunately that is correct. Unless of course gay marriage, abortion, that sort of crap is your main focus, there are some real differences there.

But as for enabling the slaughter of the average American economically, both parties are right there.

[bvar22]

26. Sad, but thrue.

" Unless of course gay marriage, abortion..."

And THAT is precisely how the 3rd Way/DLC is able to successfully market their brand of Economic Republicanism.

[woo me with science]

35. +100000

In one case, we get Monsanto People Chow in a variety of packaging.

In the other case, we get corporate fascism in either Red or Blue.

[lpbk2713]

17. Like Henry Ford.

You can have any color you want ... as long as it's black.