THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2007 – LABEL FABLE

A bit late writing my diary this (last) week – it’s all been a bit busy as Mrs G returned from Germany last Saturday for a brief visit and I didn’t have much time post-shopping & pre-return to do my stuff. Anyway here it is at last and apologies to all my reader (sic) who have been waiting expectantly. So, what news from the orangery? Well, not much really. The duvets have gone (told you) but have been replaced by … sets of wicker trunks! These are not swimsuits previously owned by a television presenter but are essentially storage boxes. And they come in sets – you open the big one to find 2 smaller ones inside and then you open those … and so on. A bit like those Russian dolls that go on and on and on until you’re left with an atom sized doll and a queue of steadily decreasing sized dolls hundreds of miles long. It does seem as my Sainsbury’s (technically not correct but that’s what the sign says) seems to be becoming a dumping ground for unsaleable goods from other stores – pine boxes, duvets, wicker trunks – whatever next? I have to admit to showing my age today. Whilst buying my pork and egg cutting pie I noticed that the server (he who serves) was looking leeringly over my shoulder. Interested, I turned round and, yes you guessed it, there was a smart young lady walking by wheeling her MK1 70 LTR Daily Shopper (trolley). ‘Not bad’ I said (the girl, not the trolley). He gave me a knowing look (‘I know your type’), smirked and carried on cutting my pie. I must get out more. Anyway, on to the toilet rolls. Had a bit of a running out (of rolls, not a bodily misfunction) so needed to stock up and I bought some toilet rolls which proudly state that they have been recycled. From what? I dread to think. Now, chicken korma. I usually buy a Sainsbury’s chicken korma to have on a Friday night with a tin of lager and, indeed, I did buy one this week. As you know I am a keen label watcher and I always try to buy British food. I have been previously happy with buying Sainsbury’s chicken korma as it says ‘produced in the UK’. But as I was packing it away after I got home I noticed on the side of the packet in small print it said ‘Produced using Thai or Brazilian chickens’. Oh my word! I dread to think what Brazilian and Thai chicken farms are like – they have to be a whole lot worse than Bernard Matthews (and we know what he’s been up to!). Why ever does Sainsbury’s have to use chickens from Brazil and Thailand? What’s wrong with our own chickens, for goodness sake? And maybe the Thai chickens are in fact … not chicken? I think you know I mean. Anyway, that’s the last time I buy Sainsbury’s chicken korma! And, why isn’t the packaging labelled properly? It should say ‘Produced in the UK using Brazilian and Thai chickens’ all in one go and no hiding the chicken source (sauce?) in the small print. To my mind all this recommended daily intake, calories this and vitamin that kind of mumbo jumbo stuff that nobody reads or understands should be dropped in favour of complete, clear and no-nonsense labelling about where the food actually comes from. Allied to this I noticed at the check out that Sainsbury’s are introducing a ‘Wheel of Health’ labelling system. This is a kind of traffic light system whereby the good bits get greens in the wheel, less good (calories) get oranges and bad bits (salt, fat etc) get reds. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction!

Items bought 33

Cost £46.45

Average cost per item £1.40

Checkout number 9

Nectar points 424