(ref: Charles Leigh's 31 May piece 'Food for thought as organic sales grow')
I am offended and saddened by the manner in which Mr Leigh's research somewhat trivialises the organic food debate. Offering Tesco's overpriced and sorely lacking organic product selection as a barometer by which to contrast and compare value and nutrition is a poor choice to begin with. Top that with increasing public awareness as to their practices of bullying their organic suppliers to comply with their standards of uniformity, and their insistance on packaging produce in plastic unnecessarily as well as importing from abroad (both of which help defeat the purpose of going green).
I am suprised that a newspaper with more of a reputation for breaking stories that normally would expose the manner in which small farmers and growers are exploited by large companies like Tesco would run a marginal fluff piece like this, especially at a time when so many people like myself are trying to make a case for supermarkets to meet the demand for more and better-sourced (ie; local) organic products. It is almost as though you are afraid to ruffle the feathers of your advertisers, or perhaps an even higher authority, much like the American press is more well known to do. Some of the nutrition information supplied is useful, but frankly I think the Guardian can do a bit better.
Yours truly
Rebecca Korbet-Wootton
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