Dispatches: The Truth About Food Prices

Jay Rayner presented this excellent programme which even had some practical ideas about reducing the grocery shopping expenditure. People in the UK spend about 10 to 15% of their income on the food bill, and this figure is steadily climbing up.

The main culprit is the usual suspect of rising oil price. However, more and more crops are being used for the production of bio-fuels, whereas before they would all have gone to feeding humans or at least the animals for human consumption. According to the boffins, this is inefficient, as well as completely illogical: for every 110 units of bio-fuel produced, the energy expended equals 100 units. What a waste, as they say.

The rich stock brokers are getting richer by speculating on the prices of crops. Apparently it’s some new form of hedge betting, and the more expensive the food gets, the richer they’ll be. Sweet.

So what is an Average Joe to do? D’uh, we should all shop around, downshift to discount supermarkets, buy more food from greengrocers etc. And, even more importantly, stop throwing away around a third of the food we buy. A couple featured on the programme would chuck away perfectly fresh potatoes and broccoli, just for the sake of it. Hello, humanity managed to survive for millenia without the use by date, if it looks fine, it is fine!