The Guardian looks at "Big Food" in the US

[chromedome]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/jul/14/food-monopoly-meals-profits-data-investigation

[gfweb]

I'm no defender of badness, but this is just a hit piece driven by  the Environmental Working Group (who is against everything it seems) and their ilk.  One-sided biassed writing.

 

And I'm one who despises the big companies

[Anna N]

From the linked article:

A handful of powerful companies control the majority market share of almost 80% of dozens of grocery items bought regularly by ordinary Americans, new analysis reveals.

 

I suspect one could easily remove the word Americans from the above and replace it with Canadians, Britons etc., change the brand  and company names to reveal the guilty and reach very similar conclusions. 

 

 

 

[heidih]

I think we all know this. So many balls to juggle - what are our options in a complicated tangled world  Yes Nestle is evil but I have Knorr chicken powder in my pantry like much of the world.  Am I a hypocrite? Probably.

[ElsieD]

One thing I would find interesting is knowing which brands those big companies own.

[chromedome]

21 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

One thing I would find interesting is knowing which brands those big companies own.

There's an infographic out there. I'll take a look for it when I'm done work for the day.

[chromedome]

Here it is. It was researched and created by OXFAM.

 

[rotuts]

@chromedome 

 

is there a ref to a site

 

where  I can expand the graphic to see the subs

 

a little clearer ?

 

thank

[Alex]

3 hours ago, gfweb said:

I'm no defender of badness, but this is just a hit piece driven by  the Environmental Working Group (who is against everything it seems) and their ilk.  One-sided biassed writing.

 

And I'm one who despises the big companies

 

"Hit piece" implies some nefarious purpose to the article. I don't see that. And saying that the EWG is "against everything" is hyperbole. Last I checked, they were "against" products and situations that were harmful to consumers. And in any event, the piece was produced by the Guardian in conjunction with Food and Water Watch; EWG was referenced exactly once.

[gfweb]

3 hours ago, Alex said:

 

"Hit piece" implies some nefarious purpose to the article. I don't see that. And saying that the EWG is "against everything" is hyperbole. Last I checked, they were "against" products and situations that were harmful to consumers. And in any event, the piece was produced by the Guardian in conjunction with Food and Water Watch; EWG was referenced exactly once.

It was far from balanced journalism. Hyperbole? Not really. EWG makes pronouncements that have flimsy support at best. Never saw them say anything was OK. They feed their supporters. I know nothing about FWW, but anything that calls itself a "watch" has a point of view. 

[chromedome]

The link on Oxfam's site will enlarge when you click it.

https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/these-10-companies-make-a-lot-of-the-food-we-buy-heres-how-we-made-them-better/

Edited July 16, 2021 by chromedome (log)