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Supermarkets - Food
Includes fast food, food miles, food security, seeds see also Genetically Modified Food, Privatisation

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16th October 2009 Issue 695 - AND FINALLY ...As farmers take their protest about dairy pricing to Brussels, where they milk it for all it’s worth...

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29th Feb 2008 | Issue 622 - NO STRAIN NO GAIN - "Seeds are the vry beginning of the food chain. He, who controls the seeds, controls the food supply and thus controls the people." - Dominique Guillet, Kokopelli.

Last week, in France, the independent seed-saving and selling Association Kokopelli were fined €35,000 - Their crime was selling traditional and rare seed varieties which weren’t on the official EU-approved list – and therefore illegal to sell.

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Another way of getting around seed restriction laws are seed swaps – which in recent years have sprouted up and down the country. People freely share seeds for another year’s growing – a co-operative way of maintaining genetic diversity, as well as exchanging knowledge. Most are around February/early March - see www.seedysunday.org

2nd September 2005 | Issue 510 - AIR STRIKES - The story of the Gate Gourmet workers at Heathrow - sacked as the company tried to impose low-pay contracts on them, is both a story about corporations squeezing workers in the 'outsourcing' game, as well as the way trade unions in Britain since Thatcher are the weakest in Europe.

16th April 2005 | Issue 493 - TESCOPOLY - “Where does the money come from to pay Tesco Boss, Terry Leahy? From producers and consumers; the cheaper he can buy from producers and the more he can get from consumers the more money he has for his shareholders and of course for himself.” - John Turner, Lincolnshire Farmer

18th February 2005 | Issue 485 - BURGER CHAINED - 20 years since the first ever ‘Day of Action against McDonald’s’, things are looking up for would be leaflet distributors. This weeks European court’s ruling that the ‘McLibel’ defendants did not get a fair trial because of McDonald’s vastly superior financial resources has led to a flurry of discussion about whether activists will be able to get legal aid from the government if they’re sued by big business.

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30th August 2002 | Issue 370 - And Finally... - While 12 million people starve to death in Africa, McDonald’s has just dreamed up a stunningly sensitive new product--the McAfrica burger. With no apparent sense of irony, these burgers are currenly on sale at McShit branches in one of the most expensive and comfortable countries in the West, Norway.

12th July 2002 | Issue 364 - LAST SUPPER - In 1996 world leaders met at the World Food Summit to talk about how they might be able to reduce world hunger, a time when there were 800 million starving people. They made commitments to halve world hunger by 2015. Last month, nearly 6 years later, the follow on summit took place in Rome.

17th November 2000 | Issue 283 - FLIGHT OF FANCIES - Have you ever thought about where your food comes from? Even a simple meal may have travelled the globe before arriving on your plate, with potatoes from Egypt, apples from New Zealand, and beans from Kenya. Aircraft fuel isn’t taxed and costs just 17 pence a litre, making these multinational meals cheaper than food produced in our own country, affecting not only the climate but also this country’s farming industry.