Supermarket Regulation (reduce unhealthy ingredients)

Food & Farming
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Supermarkets do things to their food that are not really explained. For instance. Buy cheese from a market vs a super market and there is a significant difference between the two.

I suspect its relating to preservatives and i also notice there is a significant amount of Dextrose and Maltodextrine in various foods at the Supermarket.

These are a type of Sugar, which contributes to the unhealthy nature of those foods. They can be found in even things you consider, normally, to be natural.

Another thing Supermarkets do, is to mix Golden Syrup into Clear Honey. You can tell by the colour.

You can get whiplash if you compare market, farmshop, local sourced food to your supermarket.

So i would propose standards regulations on Supermarkets and a vast reduction of redtape and tax on Farmers. They should not need to be propped up by government subsidy. Rather, with sweeping tax reductions outlined in other policy suggestions and even reform policy they would be able to be far more competitive. Investing for efficiency, competing with prices, and actually challenging super markets.

Super markets are able to cost cut with their preservatives which make food unhealthy. I would rather see these regulated so they are not jamming such bad ingredients in food… rather i would like to see them properly labeled and the public educated on these practices. If we’re to allow it to continue at all.

I want to pursue a country that has more Butchers, farm shops, local grocers and so on. More local, fresh food. Presently i have to travel to the next city over to get good deals on fresh meat.

We shouldn’t even need a car. I live next to multiple farms.

Regular super market standards to prevent over use of maltodextrine, dextrose and sweeteners.

Sweeteners, you know those Diet and Zero drinks, and other things like them.
They actually have a very unhealthy side effect of making you extremely hungry.

Lets get rid of them too. They’re faking it when they say they’re not bad for you.

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Totally agree we need to shake up our agricultural/ manufactuing process.
A high percentage of the foods we eat causes illness and disease over time.
We need to move away from the huge consumption of processed foods.

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100% I’m a byproduct of the poison they put into affordable foods, I’m 25 and had Crohn’s disease for 8 years and it’s been hell, now I’ve used my brain and stopped listening to the doctors filling me up with injections that in the small print can cause cancer and tablets that batter my immune system, I’ve gone cold turkey and pretty much eat carnivore meals and my symptoms, problems and weight has never been better and this is being replicated by many people now who have been suffering and lost trust.

Keeping a close eye on RFK jr in the US I’m hoping he can shine a light on things but we need to have action here, auto immune disease are booming and we cannot serve in the military, we need healthy and fit generations so we are ready for whatever comes our way in the future and end this epidemic which could be stopped without the profitable poison in our foods that goes full circle and throws us into the arms of big pharma.

It’s all one big club of stocks, shares and profitability we’re just “consumers” to the big guys anything go’s and no repercussions.

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I’m really glad to hear about your improvements after going for more natural foods. My best friend and mother suffer from similar conditions, IBS and the other has Crohns adjacent (forgot the specific name but its in the same range of conditions) and i’ve been on a mission to get my family eating healthier.

But its really difficult because the doctors/nutritionalists seem to contradict each other every step of the way. Leaving us to only really logically and rationally go for Healthy foods.

I definately will be keeping a close eye on RFK jr too.

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Appreciate that mate, you’re doing the right thing whole foods etc, jersey cow milks a great one I’ve recently discovered after having 0 milk for 8 years really nice on the gut and can put weight on easy with all the nutritional benefits.

And ive had first hand experience of all the information from nurses, doctors, nutritionists from soy milk too fake ultra processed foods it’s no wonder why we’re in a chronic disease epidemic but like you say contradicting information across the board.

But when you deep it they go to uni, they study a limited text book or books that are provided by people that are in bed with big food, big pharma and the rest of them and have sponsors, shareholders etc pushing the narrative they want for us to be educated by, so the doctors can’t be trusted imo, again another institution that’s been compromised.

Thankfully we can see through it all and can take things into our own hands and can teach the future generations that cave man style is the way to maximum health and to limit the involvement of medical industry in individuals lives. Conspiracy theories win again!! 40-0!

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We have started to buy honey directly from beekeepers due to the fake honey in many supermarkets. I avoid aspartame and other additives but there are so many of them it is difficult to find natural products. I agree that ultra proceesed foods are making us ill as a society and contributing greatly to the obesity epidemic.
We need tougher regulations on the quality of food sold. Also, food prices are far too high. Is that linked to energy costs spiralling?

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i worked with grok to figure out why on earth supermarkets, which would by definition have way more costs due to preserving foods and the supply chain, would somehow outcompete local meats.

Long story short, the main issue is that the government give them tax breaks, preventing them from being double taxed with vat/corpo tax. In short they can have multiple transactions tax free.

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While I share your preferences (healthier, more natural, locally-sourced food), I’m not convinced there is a clear case here for yet more regulation. It also isn’t clear precisely what regulation you want; in fact some of your statements are contradictory.

For instance, you propose a “vast reduction of red tape” by imposing further regulation. Compared to some countries our food is already very highly regulated, as are farming and business practices, advertising, labelling, and so on. As a result it’s possible, for those who care to do so, to make highly informed choices about the food they buy.

We also have a huge amount of public education on food and health, emanating both from public and private sources, enabling us to make those decisions.

Specifically, what regulations do you want? Who determines “over use” of specific ingredients, and on what basis? Why is it insufficient to allow the consumer to choose what they want to buy?

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Use some imagination, this is a speculative policy, not a refined policy.

For example you talk about how i wish to reduce red tape, and then talk about imposing more regulation. You can do both. I believe i talked about removing red tape for farmers, and introducing supermarket health standard regulations to prevent toxic addatives and such.

An honest approach to the scientific impact of ingredients, preservatives, sweetners, and methods of transit and preservation.

I later investigated utilizing grok that supermarkets also get tax breaks relating to the prevention of double taxation, so as multiple transactions may take place on an item, it is only taxed once. Preventing the price from inflating. But Farmers to not enjoy this.

So essentially it means that super markets are able to enjoy cost reductions which enables further efficiency, granting them the edge over a farmer, whos edge is in skipping the supply chain middleman when they run a farm shop or can simply drive to a local butchers.

Education relating to food and health is heavily distorted, i would actually suggest that the UK needs more of this, more to be accurate and not simply something that demonizes things that are good for you (raw milk) while suggesting stuff like sweetners instead of sugar is better.

The average individual wont know that sweetners elevates cravings and can have you stuffing your face if you simply drink enough pepsi max.

For your final question, this would require research. A vast amount of research. More than a single individual can achieve.

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It’s striking that you seem affronted to be asked to use your imagination to outline the regulations that you want, given you expect me to do so.

You’ve suggested more and stricter regulations in an already heavily regulated field, based on subjective experiences about supermarket practices and without any evidence of the shortcomings you presumably perceive in existing regulations (yet are unable or unwilling to set out).

Asking “what regulations do you want” is not an unreasonable challenge.

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I am affronted because you are being unreasonable about it.
A speculative unrefined policy suggestion on a platform designed to help us refine these policies being questioned in ways that demonstrate you haven’t actually read what you’re critisising is frustrating.

You critisised a contradiction that does not exist.

I suggested stricter regulations on food safety. I don’t see how there is anything wrong with that. While reducing beurocracy in the local area to allow local farmers to directly and effectively survive and compete in the market with these bigger businesses.

Thats it.

You lack the imagination to understand what it is i am refering to.

If i do as you advise and write down everything, we’re looking at something far and a way beyond a policy suggestion, or speculation, or even a comprehensive essay. We’d be looking at a full blown manifesto.

When a policy is within a manifesto, how detailed is it?
Less than what i presented here in fact.

Did you not read this? It is pretty clear.

I lay out examples people can physically examine themselves, many people are already aware of how supermarket honey is often fake, i don’t know if cheese is in a super market but it is clearly different, Its also true that you encounter dextrose and maltodextrine, sweetners and other such addatives on super market products.

It is also true that you can get whiplash when you compare local to supermarket prices. Just like how you can when you compare a market in one town, then move to another.

Standards regulations on ensuring products are healthy or properly labeled while balancing things out and reducing beurocracy in other areas is a clear way to deal with keeping beurocracy lower, and the idea of lowering beurocracy is something to go alongside this, but isn’t the policy suggestion here.

I do not think people should get away with lying about what is more healthy.

Raw Milk being heavily lied about i would wager.

A Vast reduction of red tape on the farmers and tax reduction, while ensuring super markets behave. Is my suggestion. Red tape is not a single entity. I said use your imagination because there are many elements of red tape we can cut that do not clash with health standards.

If we remove all standards wholesale, we simply have anarchy. (the real far right)

Super Markets should not need to be propped up by the state, is refering to the socialist elements that give them an advantage over Local. At the time of writing this policy i did not know the inner workings of why they were cheaper, but a big part of it is a tax break, the excuse being so they are not “double taxed”

Consider how vat and corpo tax work. Every transaction you’d think would involve these taxes throughout the supply chain. As the supplier buys from the farmer, as the company buys from the supplier, then as the company sells to the consumer.

This does not occur. The tax, it seems, only applies to the consumer final purchase. (i am oversimplifying but we do not see layered taxation, the companies can get their tax paidrefunded at certain layers.) Unless its Local.

This is the kind of policy i was refering to when i said that they should not need to be propped up by the state. Alongside how farmers have subsidies propping them up by the state.

My policy suggestion while dealing with unhealthy products and fake products, also deals with these socialist elements of state intervention.

Its a balance of the scales.

So asking for “what regulations do you want” when i was clear as day multiple times throughout, while suggesting it is not clear, that it is contradictory, then outlining a specific example that is clearly addressed in the original post, is most certainly going to prompt a reply that you might consider affronted.

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I want to pursue a country that has more Butchers, farm shops, local grocers and so on. More local, fresh food. Presently I have to travel to the next city over to get good deals on fresh meat.

I strongly agree with this line, but the solution isn’t in food policy but in economic policy. To me, a big part of the problem with modern society is the rise of the “clone town” and corporations which are “too big to fail”. The reason for this (and this is a very big topic that I don’t want to derail this thread too much by delving into…) as far as I see it is that we do not live in a capitalist economy, but instead in a bureaucratic-corporatist one. The state regulates industry so much, and companies are so big that it is impossible for a new small business to “invade” and take over.

Capitalism is built on economic Darwinism, but we don’t see that. Instead, we get large corporations, owned by shareholders who are only interested in short-term economic extraction, not building sustainable companies to pass down to their children. The structures at play encourage companies to ensure that every time you interact with them, whether it be in Dundee or Dover, your experience has to be identical. This is slowly draining the personality out of our towns and cities and making them all some veiled corporate version of our distinct regional cultures. It also encourages companies to make employees “plug in and play”, eschewing training and insisting that you can do the job immediately on day one.

Supermarkets are but one example of this, and are a big part of the problem. To me, I’m not entirely sure what the solution is, but one thing I am interested in exploring is the idea of a maximum business size. Maybe around 100-150 employees. I might make this a separate topic if it is too far off this one.

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Food needs to be more natural, not pumped full of chemicals or antibiotics and not sprayed with insecticides. I feel organic is the way to go. Also, we need to avoid fake food like margarine. I feel that we need better education on what to eat.

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I’m mostly interested in banning Bovear in dairy products in supermarkets

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I could not agree more with the idea of being able to eat more natural foods, but these foods are a great deal more expensive than the supermarket equivalents, and while bringing the prices down will help, it will not help the poorer inner city dwellers.

There is also the fact that in this country we cannot produce enough food to sustain ourselves and need to import. Importing food is time consuming and preservatives are needed to ensure that a viable product arrives on our shores.

However, that still leaves a massive amount of room for improvement and that would come with this policy being moved forward from its bare bones into something workable.

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As a part year resident in the States, I’m keeping an wye on RFK Jr. Somethings got to change. I saw a woman who looked 10 years younger than me, but she was so fat she couldn’t even walk around the supermarket without a scooter. It’s sad that I will likely outlive her even though she’s younger than me. America is very unhealthy and very medicated and the UK looks more and more like the States everytime on there.