Disturbing food facts

Why eat locally produced, seasonal foods?
1) to reduce the energy (and associated CO2 emissions) needed to grow and transport the food we eat
2) to avoid paying a premium for food that is scarcer or has travelled a long way
3) to support the local economy
4) it's fresher, tastier and more nutritious

The average supermarket chicken contains nearly a pint of water, traces of antibiotics, has hock burns from standing in its own excrement and bones so spongy they can be minced up to make hot dogs.

Single servings of some ready-made puddings contain the same amount of salt as two packets of crisps.

Milk is cheaper than water in many shops.

Only 20% of apples consumed in the UK are produced here.

One Dairy Lea Lunchable (harvest ham) contains 37% more salt than the recommended maximum daily intake for a 6 year old child.

To fly a Kiwi fruit to the UK takes the same weight in fuel as the fruit.

Up to 30% of road freight is food related.

Robinsons Fruit Shoot Juice Drink contains only 11% juice.

You would need to purchase 31 300ml bottles, costing £20.60, before you would get a litre of pure, undiluted fruit juice.

There is 70g of sugar in a 500ml bottle of ready mixed Ribena. The same amount as seven lollipops and 10g more than a 10 year old child's recommended maximum sugar intake for a whole day.

Sugar puffs are 49% sugar.

Some canned ham may contain just 55% meat padded out with water, pork protein, gelatine, salt, sugar and additives.

Most hot dogs are made from mechanically separated chicken flesh, mixed with water, a little pork, and a wide range of starches, collagens and additives.

Supermarket fresh pork chops are often injected with water and salt to make them more succulent

On average for every £1 spent on food in the supermarket farmers get 9p

Many burgers contain 48% chicken, water, beef fat, beef heart, rusk, starch, onion, salt, spices hydrolysed vegetable protein, etc, etc. (no beef meat)

Some soups are as salty as seawater. Researchers discovered a chicken soup from the New Covent Garden Food Company had 6.25g of salt per 250g bowl. There are 3.5g of salt in 100g of seawater. The Food Standards Agency recommends adults to consume no more than 6 grams of salt in a day

Back to January foods

Visit www.bigbarn.co.uk for the opportunity to buy meat, game, fish, fruit and vegetables, cheese and dairy products, drink, bakers' products and even nursery plants direct from the people who produce them.

Do you buy locally produced foods?

Yes as much as possible

No I buy what's at the supermarket

No but I'm going to start buying it

 

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