JellyBaby's Blog

The words “interesting” and “BBC3” are not words you would usually hear in the same sentence, but I recently watched an interesting programme on the channel called “Britain’s Really Disgusting Foods”. In the show, Alex Riley takes a look at the food we usually eat without thinking twice and shows the kind of process it goes through before reaching our cupboards.

The episode I watched was all about dairy products, from cheap cheese singles (that can have as little as 6% cheese) to the pints of milk we pick up at the supermarket. Now you might not think about where your milk has come from when you pour it on your cereal each morning. I know I never do, which was why it came as a shock for me to realise exactly how little British dairy farmers are getting paid. Alex explained that although it costs around 28p to produce one pint of milk, supermarkets don’t pay enough to our farmers to make a profit. Perhaps the most shocking thing of all was that the Co-Op, which always makes a fuss about its ethics, is paying only 23p per pint, which is the lowest of all the supermarkets. With Co-Op stocking everything from FairTrade chocolates to rum, it’s amazing that they are ignoring the plight of the dairy farmers in our own country. Every day two dairy farmers go out of business because they simply can’t stay afloat. This is both depressing and disgusting – how can a supermarket that prides itself on stocking a wide range of FairTrade produce ignore those who produce one of our staple commodities? I understand that all supermarkets are trying to cut prices for their customers in these tough economic times but surely it is common sense that they pay their producers a fair price?

So next time you make a cup of tea or eat a pancake, remember the true cost of your pint of milk.