Obesity

[Julia9054]

When he gets to the Eu 1.25 Spanish table wine he doesn't bother tasting it. It's legally wine, the lab results are in spec, done. Pack it. "Oh but it's not as good as 1996 Chateau Lafite" . No, it's not. What do you expect for Eu 1.25?

I like wine but often wonder at what price point would a peasant like me cease to be able to taste the increasing quality (ditto increasingly expensive bicycles)

 

[winjim]

The 27p range is interesting. Nobody makes money on it. All the supermarkets have to have it, they go to great lengths to make it as unattractive as possible. Look at the packaging, the blue and white "label of shame" could be made to look attractive but that's the last thing they want. Manufacturer s make the 27p range because they are forced to bid for a tranche of business. If you want the core business then you need to take on X volume of the 27p tut.

Technically the 27p range can be interesting because you are trying to make a bit of orange juice, sugar and pectin resemble marmalade, it has to be stable, safe and meet regulatory standards. Sometimes an interesting challenge. Not always though, I've a friend who's a wine maker. When he gets to the Eu 1.25 Spanish table wine he doesn't bother tasting it. It's legally wine, the lab results are in spec, done. Pack it. "Oh but it's not as good as 1996 Chateau Lafite" . No, it's not. What do you expect for Eu 1.25?

I remember seeing somewhere that the tax and duty on a bottle of wine is about a fiver, so subtract that from the cost of the bottle and that's what the wine itself is worth.

Edit: the tax, obviously is progressive but the duty is flat I think. Anyway, for cheapish wine, say £5-10 it's about right?

 

[Blue Hills]

I remember seeing somewhere that the tax and duty on a bottle of wine is about a fiver, so subtract that from the cost of the bottle and that's what the wine itself is worth.

well rather depends on the price of the bottle. You can get lots of wine for under a fiver - are you saying there's some hidden charity paying to put wine in folks' hands?

 

[winjim]

well rather depends on the price of the bottle. You can get lots of wine for under a fiver - are you saying there's some hidden charity paying to put wine in folks' hands?

I'd have to look it up properly, and of course duty rates may have changed by now but the gist of it was 'don't buy wine for under a fiver'.

 

[winjim]

Here we go, the actual wine in a £5 bottle is worth about 30p

 

[lazybloke]

You are tarring everyone with the same brush. You wouldn't say "this Chinese scrap in Poundland is junk, Toyota? It's the same junk from the far East" and it holds no water for food either.

No, I recognised the difference market sectors.


Let me take a step back... I'm far from a healthy food fanatic, but my immediate family has one food intolerance and one food allergy, so obviously I care about food quality, and there's not always enough information on prepacked food to make an informed choice. Ingredients and allergens are well labelled, but there's far less information about provenance, quality and cooking methods .

That doesn't stop me eating occasional junk food, and i'm partial to snacks, cakes and a bit of booze. It's precisely because of those weaknesses that I strive for healthier meals - that's how I achieve a healthy balance.

Given that this is a thread about obesity, I'll come back to topic with the thought that if more people took an interest in cooking their own food and not making lazy choices, perhaps the nation could be healthier. This doesn't exclude ready meals, but if a person is consistently lazy with their food choices then they are unlikely to be eating healthily.

 

[KnittyNorah]

I get your point but I think we kind of know the difference between a nutritionist and a 'nutritionist'. I'm sure our friend in the food industry is aware of the controversy. Do you take the same position regarding other job titles?

Yes I do, when there is evidence that significant numbers of persons claiming to hold titles which appear, to many laymen, to carry medically-associated professional status, are less than honest and open about their qualifications and experience, and peddle dangerous nonsense with no medical or scientific evidence to people who may well be ill and in need of advice from qualified medical and/or associated professionals.

Fortunately the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, as well as overseeing the bodies for professions which must by law be regulated, also assesses and accredits organisations that register the many health and social care practitioners who are not regulated by law. Their remit covers a wide range of professions, some central to the operation of the NHS and some, frankly, on the very boundaries of what might be considered 'health or social care'. Nevertheless, even those on the boundaries can - and should - be expected to act in an ethical manner and the Authority will suspend or remove accreditation from bodies which show themselves to be remiss in the registration and regulation of their members.

HOWEVER what I say about accreditation, protected titles and professions registered by law only applies in the UK so when conversing internationally, one must be aware that different terms are used and translation is variable, different regulations apply and the same term is often understood differently.

 

[battered]

Given that this is a thread about obesity, I'll come back to topic with the thought that if more people took an interest in cooking their own food and not making lazy choices, perhaps the nation could be healthier. This doesn't exclude ready meals, but if a person is consistently lazy with their food choices then they are unlikely to be eating healthily.

This much goes without saying, we were talking about interest, engagement and effort 30 pages back. Substitute "food choices" above for drink, gambling, sex, exercise, education, work, it's still true. Now fix it. We all know the solution isn't about whether I specify marge or butter in the pastry for a meat pie.

 

[BoldonLad]

Here we go, the actual wine in a £5 bottle is worth about 30p


View attachment 591251

Sounds about right. Wine in France or Spain, for example, is much cheaper than here, presumably because the taxation is less? I wonder, do they have an alcohol / drink problem?

 

[battered]

Sounds about right. Wine in France or Spain, for example, is much cheaper than here, presumably because the taxation is less? I wonder, do they have an alcohol / drink problem?

Unfortunately, yes. They do. It's not about price.

 

[battered]

No, I recognised the difference market sectors.


Let me take a step back... I'm far from a healthy food fanatic, but my immediate family has one food intolerance and one food allergy, so obviously I care about food quality, and there's not always enough information on prepacked food to make an informed choice. Ingredients and allergens are well labelled, but there's far less information about provenance, quality and cooking methods .

That doesn't stop me eating occasional junk food, and i'm partial to snacks, cakes and a bit of booze. It's precisely because of those weaknesses that I strive for healthier meals - that's how I achieve a healthy balance.

Given that this is a thread about obesity, I'll come back to topic with the thought that if more people took an interest in cooking their own food and not making lazy choices, perhaps the nation could be healthier. This doesn't exclude ready meals, but if a person is consistently lazy with their food choices then they are unlikely to be eating healthily.

I'm surprised that you think there is too little information about provenance. That's one area the retailers push. Obviously not in the 29p range, but upmar ket for sure. Cooking methods - aren't they obvious? What would you like to see, and how presented?

 

[BoldonLad]

Unfortunately, yes. They do. It's not about price.

I was being facetious. Having spent 5 months each year in France/Spain, for the past 14 years, cannot say I have noticed excessive drunkeness. But, I do hail from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, so, the bar (pun intended) may be set artificially high

 

[battered]

I was being facetious. Having spent 5 months each year in France/Spain, for the past 14 years, cannot say I have noticed excessive drunkeness. But, I do hail from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, so, the bar (pun intended) may be set artificially high

They do have a different drinking culture. Destination drinking is an alien concept to them. I spent 3 years in France, and they drink very often, but very little. So much so that there is a small measure of beer available, a "galopin". This is one half of a "demi". A demi is 250 ml, a galopin 125ml. Of beer? There's more than that soaked into the bar towel in the average bar in the Bigg market!

 

[lazybloke]

I'm surprised that you think there is too little information about provenance. That's one area the retailers push. Obviously not in the 29p range, but upmar ket for sure. Cooking methods - aren't they obvious? What would you like to see, and how presented?

I'd like to know the whole story of how how food reaches my plate, that's all. Not enough space on a label to provide that info.

 

[Reynard]

The 27p range is interesting. Nobody makes money on it. All the supermarkets have to have it, they go to great lengths to make it as unattractive as possible. Look at the packaging, the blue and white "label of shame" could be made to look attractive but that's the last thing they want. Manufacturer s make the 27p range because they are forced to bid for a tranche of business. If you want the core business then you need to take on X volume of the 27p tut.

Technically the 27p range can be interesting because you are trying to make a bit of orange juice, sugar and pectin resemble marmalade, it has to be stable, safe and meet regulatory standards. Sometimes an interesting challenge. Not always though, I've a friend who's a wine maker. When he gets to the Eu 1.25 Spanish table wine he doesn't bother tasting it. It's legally wine, the lab results are in spec, done. Pack it. "Oh but it's not as good as 1996 Chateau Lafite" . No, it's not. What do you expect for Eu 1.25?

That's what I figured about not making money, although the old "value" labels actually bit the dust at least a couple of years ago. Tesco rebranded the range to bring it into line with the style of packaging you get in Lidl and Aldi. So it's no longer immediately obvious that it's a value product. I keep meaning to buy a jar out of curiosity, just to try like, but always end up chickening out. I hate throwing food away, and if I don't like it, well... Even if it's only 27p, it's still food that's been thrown away...

The same must therefore be true about the other "value" prepared food as well. I get the fact that it's challenging to produce something recognizable from a much more limited range of ingredients - you're not going to put best butter in something that's going to sell at a loss after all - but some of the other posters have raised valid points about the quality of some of those ingredients. There was an "Inside the Factory" that looked at sausages - I think they were at a place that made the Heck ones. If memory serves, they used the premium cuts of shoulder; the trimmings, fat and skin etc were boxed up and sent on to another place that made much cheaper sausages.

Value rage fruit & veg OTOH - yes, I do buy it, and plenty of it. I don't care if they're big, small, wonky etc. Fresh produce is fresh produce after all. It's cheaper because typically it doesn't meet the standards for size and aesthetics. And some of the fruit isn't quite as sweet as what's available in the more expensive ranges.

And re the wine - I'm teetotal, so can't comment, but I'd say the same about chocolate. Cadbury's dairy milk has 20% cocoa solids in it - I understand that's the legal minimum for it to be called chocolate. And that stuff isn't even on the same planet as the Green & Black milk chocolate, which either has 32% or 35% depending on which one you get. (The one with the Anglesey sea salt in is absolutely lush, btw...)