Supermarkets and the high cost of low price

The BBC has just posted an article about an episode of its Whistleblower TV series (Tuesday, BBC1 9pm) concerning the reality of food hygiene standards in UK supermarkets.

Is anybody really surprised to learn that such huge organisations - obsessed with maximising profits, squeezing suppliers and cutting costs - are run in this way?

Perhaps the greater point is that a huge amount of the British population either don’t care or are wilfully ignorant of the risks they run when buying high-risk foods from supermarkets. No wonder food-poisoning is rife in the UK…

On the continent, however, things are very different. When I worked one summer waiting tables in an Italian bar I had to provide a stool sample to the local council for forensic tests to ensure I posed no risk during the food production process. And I neither worked in the kitchen nor prepared any food!

What would happen to the majority of food businesses in this country if the same regulations applied, and for whom would that be a bad thing??!

At the Del Sole Deli we’re proud to be one of the small minority of food production establishments in Bath & North East Somerset that obtained 5 stars in our food hygiene inspections.

Let’s hope the excellent Scores on the doors service gets the publicity and respect it deserves. After all, if I’m choosing a restaurant or food shop to frequent I know which rating system I’m going to check it against - and its nothing to do with Michelin or the AA…