• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

Michelle's blog

Food allergy and food intolerance, freefrom foods, electrosensitivity, this and that...

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • FreeFrom Food Awards
  • Foods Matter
  • Walks & Gardens
  • Salon Music
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • FreeFrom Food Awards
  • Foods Matter
  • Walks & Gardens
  • Salon Music

Supermarkets and moral fibre…

21/03/2012 //  by Michelle Berridale Johnson//  2 Comments

A couple of days ago I received an incandescent-with-fury email berating Sainsbury’s and Waitrose for stocking Belvedere Broccoli, a conventionally bred, non-GMO broccoli devloped by the Great Evil One, Monsanto.

Now I hold absolutely no brief for Monsanto – I think they demonstrate some of the absolutely worst features of modern, multinational capitalism – so I have no particular desire to buy any product in which they have had a hand and am very happy to lobby Waitrose and Sainsbury’s to think twice about stocking their products.

However, what actually got up my nose was the response the supermarkets gave to Ciaran who is running this particular lobbying campaign:

Waitrose and Sainsbury’s say they haven’t had complaints from customers about the product and have no plans to stop selling the trademarked broccoli,  but they will continue to monitor customer feedback…

Don’t they have minds of their own?  Can they not take a position and, if they really mean all that chat about ‘ethical sourcing’ etc, choose not to buy from Monsanto? Or, if they decide that they do want  to buy Monsanto products, can they not make that decision on thier own? Why does it always have to be thrown back to us, the customer?

Yes, I know they need us to buy their products otherwise they will go out of business, and yes, of course they should listen to customer feedback – but that does not mean that they should  buck pass all decisions back to us customers?  If they want to sell Monsanto broccoli they should do so – it is up to us whether we chose to buy it. If Monsanto offends against their principles of trading, then they should not sell the products.

What they should not do is to sell, or not to sell them, only on the basis of complaints from their customers!

 

Category: Environmental Issues, Food, Food/Health PolicyTag: Belvedere broccoli, customer complaints, customer feedback, ethical sourcing, Monsanto, multinational capitalism, Sainsbury's, Waitrose

Previous Post: « Allergy versus intolerance – again…
Next Post: Boris…. »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Janet

    21/03/2012 at 11:26

    When standing at the veggies selection point in the Supermarket of your choice, , how many of us actually know the variety of the produce??
    OK..such as apples/pears/strawberries, etc..we may know the variety…but the plant breeder??
    Would the majority of consumers actually be bothered??
    OK..some will….maybe ….
    Yes its about choice…

  2. mamaunsell

    21/04/2012 at 14:31

    Their comment that they have had no complaints from customers is totally untrue. I am furious with Waitrose for stocking belvedere broccoli, (I don’t expect any better from Sainsbury) I stopped shopping at Asda because of the change in law about GMO’s in Europe and moved to Waitrose because they said they would not stock GMO”s. Yes, I am aware that this broccoli is not a GMO product, but as a consumer I do not want to put my money into the pockets of companies like Monsanto, Dupont etc. I have written to Waitrose about this, but even when their customers do state their opinions they are ignored. So now I am increasing what I buy from local shops, organic boxed schemes and I am not restricting myself to one (expensive) supermarket

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Colliding with a new reality – the hazards of low vision
  • Call for adult allergy sufferers
  • The vegan/allergy labelling issue
  • A gluten free Christmas just could be delicious – not a penance!
  • A food fad won’t kill you – an allergy will

Search this blog

ARCHIVES

Blogroll

  • Allergy Insight
  • Better brains, naturally
  • For Ever FreeFrom
  • Free From (gluten)
  • Freefrom Food Awards
  • Gluten-free Mrs D
  • Natural Health Worldwide
  • Pure Health Clinic
  • Skins Matter
  • The Helminthic Therapy Wiki
  • Truly Gluten Free
  • What Allergy?

TOPICS

A food fad won’t kill you – an allergy will

There has been a predictable outcry in the allergy world this week’s in response to Rachel Johnson’s piece in Thursday’s Evening Standard on ‘dietary requirements’ and food fads. Being charitable, I am assuming that she has never suffered from or lived with someone with a food allergy. However, I do have some sympathy with her …

Bioplastics – a solution or part of the problem?

Everyday Plastic is a social enterprise group using accessible learning and publicity campaigns to reduce the amount of plastics used daily in our society. It was founded by its current director Daniel Webb who, having moved to Margate in Kent in 2016, was horrified to discover that there were no plastic recycling options on offer.  …

FreeFrom Christmas Awards – the Winners

Since they were launched two years ago the FreeFrom Christmas Awards have been a great success. And how lucky are ‘freefrom-ers’ these days!  From Advent calendars to gifts, party food to Christmas dinner, there is no longer any need for them to miss out. Indeed, the whole family can happily eat freefrom and never know …

Do not extradite Julian Assange to the US

Julian Assange is being sought by the current US administration for publishing US government documents which exposed war crimes and human rights abuses. The politically motivated charges represent an unprecedented attack on press freedom and the public’s right to know – seeking to criminalise basic journalistic activity. Assange is facing a 175-year sentence for publishing …

What to believe – applying critical thought

For the average citizen evaluating the claims made for cure all – or even improve all – health products and procedures has always been difficult. Not only is it an area in which we have minimal expertise but most of us have a vested interest in finding a miracle intervention that will solve our health …

Could wireless monitoring devices be killing racehorses?

Regular readers may remember that back in August last year I alerted you to a posting on Arthur Firstenberg’s Cellphone Task Force site about phone masts and bird flu. Could there be a connection between the fact that the two wildlife sites in Holland and Northern France which had suffered catastrophic bird flu deaths were …

Site Footer

Copyright © 2025 · Michelle's Blog · Michelle Berridale Johnson · Site design by DigitalJen·