Food, Naturally: Articles VI

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the beginning or the introduction.

I found a couple articles today that I wanted to share with you, even though I am taking a break from writing new posts for the Food series.

1. Eater's, beware: Walmart is taking over our food system
A few tidbits from this article include:
* Walmart's share of the whole nations grocery market: 25%
* Walmart is short changing farmers and "charging consumers inflated prices" which has helped to drive up the food prices!
* Walmart's "local produce": "Walmart is doing industrial local," not buying from local small farmers.
* Walmart's low prices are supposed to help reduce the problems of poverty but,

"[n]eighborhoods that gain Walmart stores end up with more poverty and food-stamp usage than communities where the retailer does not open, a study published in Social Science Quarterly found. This increase in poverty may owe to the fact that Walmart's arrival leads to a net loss of jobs and lowers wages, according to research [PDF] by economists at the University of California-Irvine and Cornell."

If we had a distributist society, we wouldn't have this problem, but here in the US, capitalism is king, and along with it comes all these problems.


2. Asian Honey, Banned in Europe, Is Flooding US Grocery Shelves
Beward of Honey sold in US supermarkets. China is laundering honey and it's making its way to the US. Most of the honey is contaminated with antibiotics that are dangerous for children, heavy metals including lead, and some of the honey isn't even honey at all! Read the article to learn more.