I don’t really understand things with, say, no sugar or no high fructose corn syrup, are more expensive. What’s the deal with it? Will people just pay the extra for higher quality foods? If it was less processed, and less expensive to make, wouldn’t the cost reflect that?
Cheers
>If it was less processed, and less expensive to make, wouldn’t the cost reflect that?
Can you give an example of what foods you’re referring to here, and what you are comparing them to in terms of cost?
A lot of minimally processed foods such as whole grains and dry legumes are very cheap. And their more-processed counterparts are more expensive.
Corn, soy, sugar, and also beef are heavily subsidized by the government, so these ingredients can be purchased cheaply as fillers and preservatives.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1247588/
Supply contracts play a role. A food processing company making frozen potato chips, for example, will sign up potato farmers into multi-year supply contracts. The farmers know exactly how much they need to supply, and have a guaranteed long-term revenue outlook. In return for reducing the farmers risk of not being able to sell produce, and the efficiency of knowing exactly how much to sow, the processing company gets a discount on the potatoes.
On the flip side, a farmer selling potatoes without a supply contract will want more dollars per kilogram/pound in case they can’t sell the entire harvest. So the local green grocer without a supply contract will pay more (the green grocer has the bonus of getting to pick the best produce if he gets in before everyone else, the processor has to accept that the quality can very a lot).
Supply contracts also tend to reduce the number of third parties in the supply chain (the farmer usually delivers directly to the processor, or the processor collects direct from the farmer). With the supply contract, the farmer will often go to a farmers market where to green grocers will purchase the produce - farmers markets don’t provide the venue for free. If famers are supplying multiple markets, they’ll hire 3rd party transport companies to deliver the produce to the market. If the green grocer has multiple stores, or buy from multiple markets, they might hire a 3rd party for transport as well
To keep people eating low quality foods, leads to illness and keeps them dependent on medicine. Just a cycle to take more money from usCreate a illness then sell us the “cure” while keeping healthy food away from the people who need it most
Natural foods don’t have as long a shelf life so stores have to throw out more natural product. This raises the price needed to make a profit. High fructose corn syrup is a waste product repackaged as cheap filler. Win-win for manufacturers.