Facts and main points from the episode:
- the typical supermarket stocks about 30,000 items
- sugary, salty, fatty items dominate what is offered in supermarkets, school and work canteens, sporting venues, service stations, motel dining rooms, clubs and even hospitals, they become the easy choices
- the use of advertising and promotions to “normalise” the consumption of highly-processed foods and drinks, and its lobbying power to resist regulation
- The Australian food, drink and manufacturing industry is worth $111 billion represented by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC)
- Sugar, refined starches and fat are cheap additives used to dilute more nutritious ingredients. Many fruit drinks, for instance, contain just 25% fruit juice with added sugar and water to replace the fruit juice
- Breakfast cereals that are high in sugar should be cheaper because sugar is usually cheaper than the grain it replaces
- Fish is not cheap but because fish fingers may contain just 51% fish — the rest being cheap “coating” — they can generate huge profits
- Salty water is also pumped into deli meats and marinaded chicken portions and other meat products
- The more additives in your yoghurt, the cheaper the product is to produce — and the less nutritious for the consumer
- it’s been estimated that 50% of the budget for many of these foods goes on packaging, 40% on marketing and 10% on ingredients
- nutritionists and public health experts assert there’s no such thing as a healthy ultra-processed product — and this is the crux of the problem: such products may be good for big food business but they’re terrible for health
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Author: Ronsley Vaz
Ronsley is the founder & chief day dreamer at AMPLIFY. He is an author, speaker & serial entrepreneur.
He has a Masters’ degree in Software Engineering and an MBA in Psychology and Leadership. He is known as the creator of We Are Podcast – the first Podcasting Conference in the Southern Hemisphere, and the host of The Bond Appetit Podcast and Should I Start a Podcast. He has an audience of over 3 million in 133 countries.
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