Independent UK: A case that confirms some of our worst fears about supermarkets

[marmar]

Leading article: A case that confirms some of our worst fears about supermarkets
Published: 08 December 2007


Two of the country's biggest supermarket chains, Asda and Sainsbury's, have admitted fixing the price of dairy products to the detriment of consumers. So, too, have several dairy processing companies. They will all be subject to multimillion-pound fines, after the Office of Fair Trading accepted what amounts to a plea bargain. Tesco and Morrisons, which are resisting similar charges, will face much higher fines if the case against them is proven.

The accusations relate to arrangements to fix the price of milk, butter and cheese during 2002 and 2003. According to an OFT inquiry, retail prices were raised by as much as 60p for a pound of butter and 30p for a pound of cheese. Customers were told that these hefty increases were a response to suppliers' complaints that they were being short-changed.

It was an explanation that, it now transpires, was all too readily accepted. The time was the aftermath of foot and mouth. Sympathy for farmers was running high. There was also a growing awareness of just how little farmers were being paid for milk; the number of dairy farmers leaving the business every year had escalated. Supermarket customers were thus encouraged to feel good about paying more, believing that they reflected fairer prices for producers.

It will come as little surprise to those more cynical of big supermarkets' motives to learn that much of the money raised from these higher prices found its way into the pockets of the supermarkets and the intermediaries. Precious little, if any, found its way to the hard-pressed farmers. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article3233267.ece

[Gloria]

1. I used to shop at Sainsbury's in Putney...that's where I discovered

QUARK. Nothing like it here, really...and I wonder if it's still sold there. Anybody know?

[marmar]

2. What's Quark?

And completely unrelated, how come the Dairy Milk chocolate bars in Britain taste so much better than the ones we get in Amurka?

[Gloria]

4. I saved a container! Reading it from it now, 20 years later: "Skimmed Milk

Soft Cheese ideal for cooking, based on the Continental cheese "QUARK." Ingredients: Non-animal rennet. 3.5 ounces has 80 calories, 16.5 g protein, 2.7g carbos, total fat 0.5 g.

I LOVED the stuff! It spread like cream cheese and it was great with jelly!

Hey, I found it at Wikipedia! I think I'm ging to make me some Quark!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(food)

Here's a version:


http://rheology.tripod.com/QuarkMakingOfHenning.htm

Friends of Quark without Rennet


Quark is the traditional soft cheese of central Europe. It is softer than cream cheese, but more dry than sour cream. It is favored by many since it is more lean than either cream cheese or sour cream. Here are typical citations: Quark is a natural food; quark has exquisite taste; quark is needed for gourmet eating; quark in pastry (cheese cake); quark with spices on pumpernickel; . .

Since moving to the US in 1979, I missed quark and started to develop a new process for making quark at home. Requirements for me were that no additives are used (no salt, no rennet). Avoiding rennet is important since it is a little tricky to handle at home. If overdosed, it adds some unwanted flavor to the quark. We do not need it so let's not worry about it.

I started exploring different methods, but only succeeded in 1982 when a colleague at the University of Massachusetts Amherst told me that Buttermilk has the right culture for converting milk into quark. My best success is described in the recipe shown below. Many people asked for the recipe and succeeded with their own home-made quark. Quark making has become most easy. Please try and taste youself. In case of suggestions or experience to share, please contact me. Enjoy !
Henning Winter ([e-mail])

MORE follows inc. recipe


Another version:

http://www.math.wisc.edu/~meyer/Quark.html

Quark Rezept / Recipe for Quark

What is Quark?
Quark is a versatile, lowfat redux of buttermilk, which can be used

* instead of sour cream on potatoes,
* instead of cream cheese in cheesecake and
* instead of heavy cream in deserts involving sugared fruits or bananas
* and more.

Quark is the German name for this edible wonder. It is also known in Russia and other Eastern European counties, I don't know under what name.
Visitors from overseas try in vain to find it in grocery stores in this country (USA).

This recipe is due to Angelika Faltings who circulated it among interested faculty wives in Princeton in the early 1990's.

[pansypoo53219]

5. indeed.

i got kitkat bars in denmark and tasted way better. and their halh & half was better.

[Benhurst]

3. Thank God we live in the land of the free, where we don't have to worry about such things.

Yeah. Sure.

:rofl: