FDA pressured to combat rising 'food fraud':
"Food fraud" has been documented in fruit juice, olive oil, spices, vinegar, wine, spirits and maple syrup, and appears to pose a significant problem in the seafood industry. Victims range from the shopper at the local supermarket to multimillion companies, including E&J Gallo and Heinz USA. Ref. Source 2
Food-stamp tally nears 40 million, sets record:
The Agriculture Department said 39.68 million people, or 1 in 8 Americans, were enrolled for food stamps during February, an increase of 260,000 from January. USDA updated its figures on Wednesday. Ref. Source 1
Raising prices on goods is as old as anything in our history. Markets always raise the price as high as they can to make a profit. It is a technique used not just in the food industry but in every market. The sad thing is when you are talking about food, water, and shelter, these are basic things people need to survive. Raising these prices really puts people in a bind because they often have to decide between eating or living comfortably.
When you are talking about food stamps these monies are not coming out of the pocket of the consumer but out of the pocket of the country, into the corporations pocket.
Edited: Oliron on 8th May, 2010 - 12:31am
I find that most people do not understand that economies are built on food. How well your economy does is first based on everyone's ability to obtain food at reasonable rates then everything else comes after. You can have the best technology, tall buildings and a massive army but if you do not have the ability to adequately provide food when needed then it all crumbles. In my country I wish more people would speak out against food fraud - prices are high just because they can be and not because there is any real reason other than massive profits.