Secrets to Supermarket Shopping Pt. 1

The major supermarket chains like Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrison's and Waitrose currently service 80% of the British public with their weekly food. Asda is owned by American food giant, Walmart, the number one supermarket and financially successful company in the USA. Tesco's is the 3rd leading global supermarket behind Walmart and French hypermarket giant, Carrefore. Here at Natural Food Finder we encourage you to look to your local farmers markets, farm shops, organic box schemes, health food stores and online providers to source the very best food nature has to offer. The reality is that for many people they still need to buy some of their food from the supermarket. Knowing that these companies have mastered sales and marketing, they are 'super' markets after all, it is important to be able to beat them at their own game and seek out and locate the best food available from the thousands of products lining the aisles.

Look out for logo's

Often consumers look out for certain stamps, certifying marks or logo's to provide a guarantee of food quality. This is a mixed world of truth and tricks on the health conscious customer.

• Fairtrade - Whilst this logo has a well respected international reputation across 21 countries it does not guarantee the quality of food produced nor the standards of farming adhered to. The fairtrade logo guarantees a higher price is paid to the farmer than the typical 'going rate', that mutually beneficial relationships are established between farmer and the buyer and that the conditions for production and trade are socially, economically and environmentally responsible. These are all desirable goals and certainly receives a tick for ethical standards, but it has very little to do with nutrition. Fairtrade foods can still be grown with pesticides and fertilisers in depleted soils.

• Red Tractor - The Farm Assured logo is mostly to do with safety standards for food production, handling, transportation and distribution. Again this provides some assurances and in many cases offers some desirable standards such as food traceability, guaranteed feed and water, appropriate shelter and hygienic storage. However, the only aspects that may positively affect nutrition and quality of the final food is that pigs are guaranteed to be reared outdoors and that crops and sugar beets will be GM free. 

• Lion mark (eggs) - This specific stamp is a guarantee of food safety standards within egg production, 85% of eggs laid in the UK now meeting this standard. This ensures hens have been vaccinated against salmonella, the eggs are fully traceable, they have been kept in cold storage during distribution, the eggs are date marked on their box and shells. Again these are all good safety points, but none of this guarantees the quality of the hens, how they live, what they are fed and how nutritious the resulting eggs will be.

• RSPCA Freedom Foods - This is a standard of welfare for farm animals as set and regulated by the RSPCA. The standards are based upon their 5 freedoms which are - freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury or disease, freedom to express normal behaviour and freedom from fear and distress. These freedoms have guided the formulation of in depth welfare requirements that cover  the farming of chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigs, dairy and beef cattle, sheep and farmed salmon. This certainly offers some increased guarantees of the conditions that these animals will be living in, reducing stress and likely increasing the health of the animals. This is bound to affect the animals nutritionally as well. So we do feel this is a worthy stamp mark to look out for as a minimum level of production. However, there are more reliable indicators and ways of ensuring nutritious food.

• Soil Association (organic) - The Soil Association is the largest single organic certifying body in the UK, independently checking standards across 70% of the organic food market. There are several other reliable organic standards including Demeter, Organic Farmer's and Growers and the Organic Food Federation. The standards cover everything from fruit and vegetables and animal husbandry to food processing and ethical trade. Ultimately the organic standard is a code of ideal practice that when truly adhered to will produce high quality food. The following principles are stated within the full organic regulations:

1. To work within natural systems and cycles throughout all levels from the soil to plants and animals.
2. To maintain the long-term fertility and biological activity of soils.
3. To treat livestock ethically, meeting their physiological and behavioural needs.
4. To foster biodiversity and protect sensitive habitats and landscape features.
5. To maximise use of renewable resources and recycling.
6. To minimise pollution and waste.
7. To minimise processing, consistent with the food in question.
8. To maximise information for the consumer on processing methods and
   ingredients.
9. Recycling of nutrients using composted manure and vegetable waste.
10. Cultivation techniques that enhance and protect the soil and its life.
11. Avoiding soluble mineral fertilisers.
12. Avoiding agrochemical pesticides.
13. Animal husbandry which meets their physiological, behavioural and health needs.

This is only a flavour of the standards set down by the Soil Association, but offers a level of food production that when food producers honestly follow can provide some assurances as to the quality of what is being purchased. We still believe it is best to know the farm and the producers of your food first hand to minimise transportation and so you know without question the quality of the food you are buying. However, in the supermarket this is usually not possible and so having stamps and certifications that provide a minimum level of food quality, safety or production can be useful in trying to seek out the best food on offer in these large food 'super' markets. Be warned that many large food manufacturers, like Heinz, have created their own organic certification organisations and, although they are technically separate companies, they are in essence regulating themselves. Self regulation always tends to lead to lowering the costs as much as possible so that the bare minimum EU standards are attained. This is not what organic food production is about. It is about rearing high quality food that will nourish and sustain, not lowering the quality as much as possible so the food will barely skim the needed requirement. Be informed seek independent certification from organisations such as those mentioned above.

In part 2 we will be looking into other considerations to help you when you are shopping in the supermarket to beat the marketing ploys of these food giants to make the most money they possibly can by directing you towards their most profitable items.