If we can’t trust our own food manufacturers and purveyors of the foods we buy weekly during our weekly shop then whom do we trust?
With the recent revelation that a large percentage of the UK’s meat products contain horse meat what else has been allowed to enter our food chain?
You might be left wondering where does it all end?
Food fraud which is affecting anything from olive oil to tuna and fruit juices has now been exposed to contain less than what we would expect to find in olive oil or the fruit juices we drink (Source: The Daily Mail 26th January 2013)
Extra virgin olive oil is being diluted with cheaper vegetable oil and even tea bags have been found to contain not just tea but lawn grass or fern leaves to bulk out the product.
According to US experts there has been a 60 per cent rise in cases of faked food.
The US Pharmacopeial Convention, an independent scientific body has discovered that some manufacturers are secretly adding cheap pear and grape juice to pomegranate juices.
The problem of faked food has been brought to the public attention in the US however, these fake food products are being sold in the UK.
Shockingly, british food experts have found that honey, organic meat, cheese, eggs and even our beloved fish and chips are not what they first seem.
According to Andy Foster, Director of policy at the Trading Standards Institute: ‘in times of recession and when people are looking for a bargain, you start to find more food fraud’.
In times of recession the family shop is often the first to be cut back on.
Shoppers re-evaluate where they shop and the prodcuts they buy often substituting the luxury version with the supermarkets own brand.
Shoppers are looking to cut back on spiralling food costs but not at the expense of quality.
The public rely on the integrity of the supermarket chains, we entrust them to make sure that at the very least the right quality and care is apportioned to the food we eat and that we know exactly what we are eating.
Without the food facts how can we make an informed choice about the foods we ingest?
You can’t help wondering if there is any correlation between ingredients within foodstuffs versus an increase in the number of children that appear to suffer with food related allergies.
Food for thought…
What do you think? Are you worried about what you are really eating? Does anyone actually know what they are really eating?
Leave a comment in the box to share your view.
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