compare and contrast

this article with this website. Then ponder...

Food waste on 'staggering' scale

You know – this shouldn't surprise anyone. When you think about it – during the past few years with the rise and rise of the big mega-supermarkets hand in hand with car ownership – people have been driving out to these places and stocking up like they were feeding little armies – and wanting a large range of stuff to choose from when they dip into the fridge. Add to that the stupid Government campaign for us all to 'eat 5 a day' – which means good intentioned folk are buying more fresh fruit and veg only to throw it out because they can't eat it – because it simply doesn't last that long (tinned and frozen is just as good if you must insist on stocking up like that.) Part of the real answer is – people should ditch the car, so they can't load up with masses of food they're only going to throw out untouched, buy locally and often – (the mega-superstores are a massive mistake of the Eighties – they (the big 4) shouldn't be allowed to build any more - and they distort local economies in ways that are quite frightening.)

As for supermarkets throwing food out (it keeps their profit margins up) - that's just criminal - at the very least they should give it to local homeless shelters or whatever. It would help their image no end too.

Compare and contrast

Fears of food shortage as rice prices keep climbing.

Haiti food protests.

meanwhile in the UK:

Fruit and vegetable waste clogs landfills.

Every year millions of tonnes of supermarket food ends up in landfill sites. At the same time there are still millions of people, including one in three children, living in poverty in the U.K.

(Although getting supermarkets not to sell fruit and veg at the ridiculously high mark-up prices they do - and then allowing them to just throw it away when they can't get those prices... That's a scandal.)