More retailers are being asked to use ‘reared without GM’ labels

European supermarkets are coming under NGO pressure to label produce from animals reared on non-GMO feed, following a move from Carrefour.
Read article at foodnavigator.com

Pity about the'unacceptable' levels of pesticides in supermarket fruit and veg...

Pity about the'unacceptable' levels of pesticides in supermarket fruit and veg... See Telegraph report. - And a pity the Food Standards Agency, with its divided loyalties, seeks to downplay this:

Extracts from the article: "The Food Standards Agency insisted the illegal levels did not necessarily mean that the food was unsafe to eat, and pointed out that the overall levels of pesticides in food had fallen over the last year. In 2007 1.8 per cent of food had illegal levels; 2008 it had fallen to 1.2 per cent." "Emma Hockridge, policy co-ordinator at the Soil Association, said: "Unbelievably we learn yet again that pesticides are turning up in fruit and vegetables supplied to schoolchildren. Yet again the government tells us this is nothing to be worried about.

"Yet we know that children’s exposure and susceptibility to pesticides is likely to be higher as per body weight they ingest more food and drink than adults and their bodies' ability to process and excrete any such residues is different to that of adults."

I reckon organic fruit and veg must be safer, though of course, it also costs more.

Higher levels of salt in 'free from' food products than in standard lines.

BBC News reports that "People choosing wheat or dairy-free products could be risking their heart health because many are loaded with salt."

Consensus Action on Salt and Health has been surveying 71 own-label "free from" products from five leading supermarkets in the UK and found that over half contained more salt than the retailer's standard version of the product. Some had six times as much.

An example is "Sainsbury's Free From Jaffa Cakes have 0.67g of salt per 100g, compared with 0.1g of salt per 100g in standard Sainsbury's Jaffa Cakes.

This is more than six times the salt level of the standard version."

This really is shameful. All of the supermarkets know that salt content needs to be lowered in order to reduce the great harm that salty food is doing to most of the population. Actually to raise the salt content for people already suffering ill-health and seeking safe food is disgraceful.

The Food Standards Agency sadly is mostly words and little action. They should be enforcing less harmful salt levels on food manufacturers not waiting for the food producers to move at the speed of a snail on tranquillisers to reduce salt content. - And certainly not countenancing manufacturers who actually increase the salt content!

I heard Professor Jack Winkler, Professor of Nutrition Policy, London Metropolitan University, on the radio early this morning. - Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he was complacently envisaging a twenty year wait for the food industry to lower the salt content to less dangerously high levels! - What is this? - Nutrition professor content to have yet another generation of fat, unfit consumers, plagued by chronic illnesses like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, cancer and all the rest of the obesity co-morbidities, just for want of telling the truth about salt and insisting to the food industry that their profits cannot be deemed to be more important than the nation's health.

I fear there are too many vested interests involved in this destruction of the health of the nation (and other nations). Big Pharma's malign influence inflates the already reckless tendency of medics to prescribe more and more drugs, too many of which drugs cause salt sensitivity (i.e. fluid retention/weight gain). The salt sensitivity coupled with the food industry having ladled salt into their products for many years now and produced many customers 'addicted' to salty food, will literally be the death of millions of innocent consumers, who very sadly will have endured years of ill-health, unhappiness and insults before that release.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver damage and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk

The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Vulnerable groups

Sodium in foods

See also FAT RETENTION

advice for pregnant mothers

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

Associated health conditions

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

I can be contacted from my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Some Tesco stores not hygienic enough

The Telegraph reports that many supermarket stores are not reaching a high enough standard of hygiene, and that Tesco has been found to be the least hygienic of the big four supermarkets. Of all the supermarkets, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer were the most hygienic.

A supermarket designed for older people may open in Britain after a similar model in Germany is proving to be a success.

Supermarket 'for older people' planned for Newcastle
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Tesco, which hopes to open the country's first pensioner-friendly store complete with wider shopping aisles and brighter lights, has sent a group over over-65s to the Kaiser supermarket in Berlin, the first of its kind in Germany.

The group will report back to Tesco before a decision is made on the proposed 60,000sq ft store in Newcastle, next door to Newcastle University's Institute for Ageing and Health.

Professor Jim Edwardson, 67, founder of the Institute and one of those who travelled to Germany, said: "Almost everything about supermarket shopping in the UK is wrong for elderly customers, from shelving that is too high to reach or too low to get to.

"The Kaiser store was the first of its kind in Germany and is so impressive. The trolleys on their own are lighter and easier to move.""

Sounds an excellent idea to me.

Premium supermarket food is often unhealthier' than the budget versions. - Plus a warning about high salt content of bread from supermarket bakeries

Premium supermarket food 'often unhealthier'

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Luxury ranges of food in supermarkets are often less healthy than the budget versions, the consumer group, Which? reports today.

Researchers found that one in four shoppers buy these premium lines, such as Tesco Finest or Sainsbury's Taste the Difference, because they think the products are better for their health.

However, they are often the highest in saturated fat - one of the most unhealthy forms of fat commonly associated with strokes, heart disease and obesity. They also often contain more salt and sugar than the standard versions.

Morrisons' beef lasagne from its The Best range has twice the fat per portion of the budget version. Asda's Extra Special lasagne contains 0.9g of salt per 100g, compared with 0.6g in the budget Smart Price version.

Tesco sells Finest European chicken kievs with garlic and parsley, which contains 2.2g of sugar per 100g - almost four times as much sugar as its standard garlic butter chicken -breast kievs.

Meanwhile, at Sainsbury's, a Taste the Difference Cumberland pie, while having less saturated fat than the standard version, is more salty and has almost twice the amount of sugar.

Bread salt warning:

Which?, the consumer watchdog, warns today that bread bought from super­-market bakeries can be twice as salty as other loaves.

Which? says that pre-packaged bread usually labels its sodium content but fresh bakery bread does not. The bakery bread averages at about 0.9g of salt per 100g of bread, about 7.5g in a large 800g loaf. Asda's granary tin loaf has the least salt on average (0.5g per 100g). The four saltiest loaves (1.1g) were the Morrisons white and granary loaves, Sainsbury's white sandwich and Tesco granary."

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Supermarkets may be misleading their customers with omega 3 claims

Supermarkets 'mislead with omega 3 claims'

Extract from report in the Telegraph:

"Supermarkets and food companies are misleading customers by making baffling health claims about omega 3, an organisation has claimed.

The fatty acid has become increasingly popular in recent years after some studies suggested that it can help reduce the risk of heart disease.

However, parts of the food industry have been accused by the consumer group Which? of "riding the money-making omega 3 wave".

A survey of 2,405 of their members found that 45 per cent were more likely to buy a product that claimed to be high in omega 3 than the same food without such a claim.

However, it found that more than half the products on supermarket shelves which claimed to include omega 3 had negligible health benefits, because they either contained so little or the wrong sort of the acid.

Sliced bread, yoghurts, fruit juices and milk were all found to exaggerate the amount or type of omega 3 that was included in the food. Omega 3 is found naturally in oily fish, such as salmon or mackerel.

It can also be found in plant extracts. However, this vegetarian type – ALA – is not nearly as beneficial, health experts claim."

Undoubtedly the best, the safest, the most effective and reliable way to reduce risk of heart disease is to avoid eating salt and food containing salt/sodium. This brings a host of other health benefits too...(o:

Lose weight and improve your health in many ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

The Co-op is the greenest supermarket

Co-op named as greenest supermarket - Telegraph

Extract:

"The Co-op has finished top of a survey to find the High Street retailer with the best green credentials.

Ten big-name stores were looked at by the BBC's Money Programme to see how environmentally responsible they are.

They were assessed for the amount of carbon and waste they produce for every £1m of their turnover.

The Co-op emerged as the best of the bunch releasing £324 of carbon and waste and Somerfield finished bottom with £1,194.

Marks & Spencer came second followed by Tesco in third place and Boots in fourth.

The tests were carried out by the environmental research organisation Trucost which works with companies to help them understand their impact on the environment."


Lose weight and benefit your health in countless other ways by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! -

How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Supermarket meat 'could be MRSA infected'

Supermarket meat 'could be MRSA infected' - Telegraph - It would be advisable to read the whole article.

Extract:

"Pork, beef and chicken in supermarkets could be infected with a strain of MRSA, according to a report today by organic campaigners which warns that the issue could become "a new monster".

The bacterium is sweeping northern Europe and has already infected one in five of all pork products on sale in Holland, from where Britain imports almost two thirds of all its pork, the report claims.

The strain found in Holland, Denmark, Belgium and Germany is different from MRSA found in British hospitals, which was a contributory factor in 3,800 deaths in 2005.

However, the report by the Soil Association, the organic pressure group, claims that the bug found in European meat is just as deadly and infectious. It is resistant to tetracycline antibiotics, the most common drugs used to cure hospital MRSA.

So far no meat or farm animals in this country have been found to be infected with the European strain. However, no testing for the microbe in pork or chicken is done.

Only cattle are tested - the least likely animal to be infected - and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) does not test any imported meat.

The Soil Association is calling on the Government to start testing for the superbug in meat as a matter of urgency."


Lose weight and benefit your health in countless other ways by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Waitrose, one of Britain's supermarket is going to start selling milk in plastic pouches to cut down on the amount of plastic used in milk containers.

Milk moves from bottles to the bag - Observer

Extract:

"One of Britain's leading supermarket chains is to start selling milk in plastic bags after green campaigners said the sale of millions of plastic milk cartons was threatening the environment.

Waitrose will start selling pouches of milk, alongside special jugs to use them with, from tomorrow. Campaigners hope the scheme will be the first step to abolishing plastic milk bottles, thereby reducing landfill and saving the energy used in their manufacture.

Britons consumes around 180 million pints of milk a week, of which at least two-thirds is sold in plastic bottles, which began to replace 'Tetra Pak' cardboard containers in the Nineties. It has recently been estimated that only one in four plastic bottles is recycled."

Pros and cons of the scheme are examined here: Is the plastic pouch really so eco-friendly? - also in The Observer.

Me - I still get buy my milk in glass bottles, which I wash and return to the milk lady. (I also buy my eggs - free range - from her and return the egg-boxes to her to be re-used.)

Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Supermarkets are being urged to curb cheap alcoholic drink promotions.

Supermarkets where drink is sold like water - Telegraph

Extracts:

"Pressure has been mounting for restrictions on supermarkets which sell discount alcohol.

Plans have already been announced to curb cheap drink promotions in Scotland and experts have called for promotions to be outlawed across Britain to reduce the number of alcohol-related deaths.

Prof Ian Gilmore, the president of the Royal College of Physicians and a liver specialist at the Royal Liverpool Hospital, said: "I think it is important to understand that alcohol is not an ordinary commodity.''

There was a clear link between price and the amount of alcohol consumed, he said. He welcomed the Scottish plans and said "they should be introduced here"."

"Britain's drinking culture:

- 8.2 million problem drinkers
- 13 times the risk of liver disease through excessive drinking
- 3,000 people a year killed or seriously injured in alcohol-related road crashes
- 4,160 deaths in England and Wales from liver disease last year
- £20bn cost to the economy of alcohol misuse
- 1 million employed in bars, nightclubs and restaurants.
- £217m spent annually on alcohol treatment
- £250m spent annually on advertising alcohol
- 63,000 people receiving treatment for drink-related disorders.
- 47p, the price of a bottle of super-market lager
- 75p, price of a bottle of super-market water
- £10bn, the total of duty and VAT receipts collected on alcohol"

Leading British retailers such as Boots and Tesco will be invited to bid to open GPs' surgeries in their stores.

Fruit, veg and a trip to the GP as stores are asked to open surgeries

Extract:

"Leading retailers such as Boots and Tesco will be invited to bid to open GPs' surgeries in their stores in areas with too few doctors under an initiative to be announced by the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, today.

Advertisements calling for "experienced healthcare providers" to apply for four contracts initially worth £30m over five years will be placed in the national and local press this month.

Entrepreneurial GPs, social enterprises and companies in the FTSE 100 will be asked to apply. But supermarkets will have to team up with existing GP groups before they can be considered. The expectation is that supermarkets would provide the space for GPs to open surgeries within their stores, an idea in which several have expressed interest.

The initiative, first mooted in the 2006 health white paper, is designed to increase the number of GPs in deprived areas that have the fewest doctors.

The first four primary care trust areas to benefit will be Hartlepool, County Durham, Mansfield and Great Yarmouth, all areas that have significantly fewer GPs than the national average of 57.9 for every 100,000 people. Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT has 48.5; Hartlepool PCT 47.5; County Durham PCT 46.5; and Nottinghamshire county teaching PCT 43.6.

All four areas will have their centres set up by the end of the coming year, and 26 further areas are expected to join the programme in the coming months.

As services will be offered by private providers, the initiative means GPs will not be covered by the controversial GPs' contract - which allowed GPs to opt out of providing 24-hour cover - and so can offer "breakfast", evening and Saturday morning surgeries. Last week the Commons public accounts committee condemned the government's handling of this contract as "shambolic"."

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)