Coronavirus (COVID-19) Panic Buying?

[lovetravellingoz]

Indeed, I get the impression Aussies are too busy emptying supermarket shelves to go on holiday!
cheers skip

Not at the supermarkets I frequent. And at Costco, when don't shoppers here have full trollies?

I think it is more that hand sanitiser has a run on.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Seems roughly 20% of residential toilet paper is ACTUALLY made in China. Most gets packed in Australia & not labelled made in China but product of Australia.

A bit like the Chinese frozen vegetables sent to NZ by container, packed into the plastic bags in NZ & sent to Australia labelled 'Product of NZ'.

We sure have great labelling & consumer protection, NOT.

I thought the new laws required point of origin and point of packaging? So the ingredients/components had to be listed if they were foreign? I know some of the products I buy say 'processed in Australia from 70% imported material' (or words to that effect).

 

[RAM]

I thought the new laws required point of origin and point of packaging? So the ingredients/components had to be listed if they were foreign? I know some of the products I buy say 'processed in Australia from 70% imported material' (or words to that effect).

...and that illustrates the point perfectly.

The new laws (actually from 1 July 2018) only apply to food labelling not all products. So not applicable to toilet rolls, hand sanitiser, soap, soap powder, towels, shoes, etc.

With the food labelling there was also a massive push (with literally hundreds of meetings with respective ministers & dept heads) by the industry lobbying to have the calculations deliberately made vague. In some cases the definitions were watered down by up to 80% - for example the description Free Range Chicken- changed to what Coles & Woolworths separate submissions (& approx 50 meetings) wanted - 10,000 per hectare up from widely used 2,000 per hectare.

Or has anyone noticed how certain major supermarket chains plaster their meat displays with "Hormone Free"? However they say nothing about virtually every red meat product testing positive to antibiotics though? Have you noticed how most meat fats these days come out yellow not white as they used to up until the late 1980s? These days virtually all beef & sheep/lambs go into feed lots for between 13 & 26 weeks before being killed. As they arrive they've given a massive dose of long lasting antibiotics as the feedlot is akin to battery hens. Say 500 cattle in an area just larger than the 500 of them standing, 3 sides have feed troughs. So virtually no movement (to use energy) = nearly all feed is converted to fat leading to massive weight boost. So if you think CV can spread quickly - it has nothing on infections spreading in feedlots = mega dose of long lasting antibiotics as they arrive.

The last time I ran the figures - 6x times the $$ amount is spent on antibiotics for farm animals than spent on antibiotics for people in Australia.

Back to labelling
How do you calculate % - weight, volume or cost? Do you know? If cost then what cost do you allocate?

Once more the community has been fed a large shovel of fertilizer liberally dusted with perfume.

With the Product of NZ - in late 2000s NZ exported 6x the volume of fruit & vegetables grown over a two year period. Happened to coincide with both Coles & Woolworths cutting out most 'Made in China' frozen fruit & vegetables replacing them mostly with product of NZ.

BTW - Australian food import laws put no onus/liability on purchaser (say Coles or Woolworths) to prove/ensure food is safe or not contaminated - all liability lies with the say Chinese-based exporter. Like to see them being prosecuted.

The Australian Govt did away with random imported food testing many years ago (cost cutting after all it is a budget surplus that matters) unlike most other countries. In the US they are finding several thousand contaminated shipments of Chinese foodstuffs every month - must say I'm surprised Trump has not said a word about it. Perhaps he hasn't been told?

Remember the 2008 scandal over Chinese powdered milk manufacturers putting melamine in to fake the protein levels? Officially killed a few thousand babies worldwide, although early on they claimed despite over 300,000 babies in China alone had been poisoned - just 6 had died. Unofficially killed an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 worldwide just the doctors knew nothing about it & listed them as SID (cot death).

All to do with a very greedy Provincial Governor wanting to make more money & help his friends get even richer. The largest milk producer was forced into it unknowingly (yes believe it or not). He was approached by the local Governor & told he needed to start buying milk from 5 friends of the Governor. He declined.

One week later his wife was arrested & 'interogated'. He received a phone call after 20 minutes or so of her interogation to hear his wife screaming in the background. He gave in and started buying milk from 5 of the Governor's friends BUT did not know it contained melamine, just that he was paying over the odds for it as well as paying USD 100,000/month in cash to the Governor.

What he also did though was install hidden cameras to record the Governor's right hand man coming each month for the cash, over the following months he recorded enough to implicate the Governor & others. He thought this would enable him to get out of it.

When the melamine finally got detected (nearly 2 years later!) the owner called a news conference for the next day. He was arrested around 1am, tried & convicted by 9am and executed at midday. His entire extended family disappeared at the same time coincidentally - fled the Provincial Governor said. Someone I know well had flown in to see him the prior evening. He got a call a little after 1am & was told to get out of China now, he & his colleague left everything but their passports & wallets in their rooms and after a very large cash donation to a driver got to the airport in record time & bought tickets on the next plane leaving. Apparently the tickets cost somewhat more than advertised.... They have never gone to Asia since.

Caveat emptor Australian consumers.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I just checked, my TOP is Aussie owned and made Phew!

The whole Chinese thing, and their food scandals, is a whole interesting topic in itself. It happens, but the CCP is also very strict in trying to prevent it. Unhappy people = unpopular government. It's one of the things (unpopularity) they try to avoid at all costs (contrary to what many people would assume).

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

...and that illustrates the point perfectly.

Caveat emptor Australian consumers.

Based on that how can it be buyer is responsible .... it’s just too much being hidden.

Just out of interest who from or what do you buy?

 

[Denali]

Last night I made an office order (coffee and Lindt flakes on special) and was also able to select 1ltr foaming hand wash refills - today I amended the order to add essentials like chocolate and the foaming handwash is no longer available across the board - did everyone decide yesterday to wash their hands again?

 

[Himeno]

Woolworths stores in Greater Melbourne will be closing at 730pm while phase 4 lockdown in place. Last customer to leave by 745.
Curfew does not apply to staff going to/from work.
Customer counting and max per store is back in full enforcement.

 

[Denali]

Im curious about Bunnings being allowed to remain open. I hope so, even click and collect as an option.

 

[jakeseven7]

Woolworths in trouble again, hopefully this doesn't exacerbate their already weaker supply chain systems, where Coles seems to have it more under control...



----
Woolworths distribution centre workers have walked off the job

Staff at Woolworths' Liquor Distribution Centre in Melbourne's west have walked off the job over coronavirus concerns.

About 240 staff have stopped work after a positive case on Friday.

The United Workers Unions says they're concerned that not enough is being done to ensure their safety while working at the warehouse, which supplies Dan Murphys and BWS bottle shops.

PM announces 'disaster payment', says Victoria shutdowns 'had to be done'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces a $1,500 "pandemic leave disaster payment" after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews reveals which industries will be shut down as the state struggles to contain its coronavirus outbreak. Follow live.

www.abc.net.au

 

[RAM]

Based on that how can it be buyer is responsible .... it’s just too much being hidden.

Just out of interest who from or what do you buy?

For work I did some in-depth research in early 2000s on China which just confirmed our already specific buying patterns, and added a couple of new ones.

I also came across a number of "That can't be correct" issues which my colleagues went to great pains to prove me wrong about....

Turned out in every case, unfortunately, my colleagues could not prove me wrong.

In 2001 - 70% of China's fresh water supplies from rivers would kill grass if poured onto it. In some regions, the poisonous fumes from the rivers have killed belts up to 30km deep either side of the rivers. It seems if you pay the correct CCP officials then don't worry about treating the carcenogenic by-products, just dump them into the rivers.

Most F&V are around 70%+ water content, their packaging etc uses massive quantities of fresh water as well. 1 + 1 = 2.

Ever wonder why the Chinese like to buy so many foodstuffs made OUTSIDE of China?

For example: I think it was the 2001-2005 (10th) 5 Year plan that had say USD 15 billion set aside for building sewerage treatment plants in one particularly bad river. The 2005 5 Year plan did not allocated any funds to continue operating them, so a consulting engineer who was tasked with checking them, for the French group who was involved in many of the projects, found many totally shutdown, some without even security guards (so they'd been broken into and stripped of anything valuable that could be carted away). Nearly all simply had the bypass channel opened so the sewerage flowed into the plant, then via the bypass channel went into the river untreated. Still that way in 2008 when I tracked him down to follow-up.

Also discovered that any media group who publishes ANY information about mainland China that has not already been published on 2 'approved' Govt sites will lose their licence to operate in China..... Amazing what a retired bureau chief for the Asia Pacific from one of the top 3 worldwide media groups knows about & may have been waiting decades to tell to the right listener. [Ok, we may have been engaged in a 'I can top that' battle one Friday night]

Wonder why Japan's largest soy sauce manufacturer shut all their Japanese factories in the 1990s and moved production mostly to far west Mongolia? Soy sauce industrially produced, I believe, produces the most carcenogenic by-products of any food product. Who knew?

Totally coincidental that the regions up to 200km down river have rare brain, thyroid, liver & kidney cancers 200x or more than anywhere else in the world.

Successfully forced Aldi, Coles & Woolies to stock frozen 'Australian Grown' beans, peas, broccoli etc after I found there was not one brand of Australian grown frozen broccoli available anymore. Whether home brand or most expensive brand - all Made in China.

Spread the info around the financial markets, so the companies started being asked why they didn't or getting negative comments every time they went looking for funding as well as telling people every time we went shopping as I encouraged many others to do. Woolies was the first to buckle & the other two followed within weeks. Not too long after that most of the "Made in China" frozen F&V disappeared from their shelves completely and in addition to the "Australian Grown" came the "Product of NZ"....

Since around 2016 there has been a resurgence in Made in China 'Chinese style' frozen food. Especially the boiled or fried versions - not straight F&V yet. Some others look suspiciously like the transhipped product as well.

Chicken - free range Lilydale - but have not checked on their bonafides since 2014. Some 'providers' seem to ship 2 to 3 x the number that they stock. one got fined about 5 years ago for labelling battery hen as free range. Same with the eggs. Fine = about 1 month's profits. Then most recently Free Range stocking per hectare changed from 2,000 to 10,000 as requested by Coles & WW.

Beef - now REALLY near impossible - something like 99.98% goes via feed lots. Some well-known Tasmanian brands used to be straight from field to abbatoir but stopped in early 2010s.

Lamb - a little easier, do your homework, varies greatly from region to region.

Pork - free range, but REALLY do your homework. In some cases changes from year to year.

Had dumped margarine in early 1990s when by accident I found an alarming (must just be coincidental of course - maybe NOT as I subsequently found) correlation between growth in per capita consumption of margarine in EVERY OECD economy & increase in dementia cases with a lag. For some it was around 120 months, others around 135 months and the longest was around 140 months. With that lag (and for some countries the data going back to the 1950s - you could virtually overlay one line on top of the other with minor deviations but virtually mirror images.

I wasn't looking for this but transposed 2 digits in a data code and got dementia cases instead of obesity - dumb luck as it turned out....

So, printed out all the graphs and showed them around. Within a few days nobody where I worked had margarine anymore. Have continued to mention this to people ever since.

Later that year at a friends Xmas party, I was taken to meet someone that had moved in next door to them. Turned out he was the senior process engineer at Australia's largest margarine factory. He'd heard about my find & told me that it wasn't any surprise - nobody who ever worked at the factory or came through it (including the CEO etc) ever used margarine again.

Margarine was developed in WW2 or thereabouts as a replacement for butter (due to Germany losing its milk supplies etc). In its naturally produced state it comes out of the industrial process looking like bitumen. The fumes given off in production have to be vented away for health reasons.

As nobody would buy a blacker/brown product (less attractive than Vegemite as this is matt not shiny - what he said!) - it gets BLEACHED repeatedly until it gets to the seemingly washed out yellow colour.

Theory vs Practice

He went on to say theoretically everything works perfectly, but the real world isn't theoretical. After a certain period of time (may have been 10 days) each line is shut down in turn and thoroughly cleaned. When the plant is first installed he thought they'd probably achieve a 99.9999% clean - so hardly any bleach left in the system & getting into the finished product.

But as everyone knows - bleach is very corrosive and despite using the highest grade tubing/pipes - it gradually eats away at every weld creating indentations that allow contaminants (bleach for example) to build up. So every number of Z years - it all gets replaced and the pitting even along the high grade stainless steel pipes is 'disconcerting'.

Whilst he had never heard of any link to dementia, my friend had fwded an email I used to send around with all the graphs, and the engineer was even more determined that no relative of his would ever use margarine.

The Real World

As I used to manage super for Federal & State Govt funds, company & industry funds, as well as News Corp & Fairfax - I approached some of the 'right' people about how this could be made known more publicly. Long story short - there would never be any funds for research into is as it was not in the interests of political donors. For companies = lost business, Govts - lost manufacturing jobs, certain unions - lost jobs for their members.

Seems not many donations back then came from dairy farmers... Cannot seem to recall any medical research funded by the dairy industry.

Don't see bleach listed as an ingredient for margarine do you?

So, perhaps, you may understand my cynicism about what spin is released & when on CV. BTW - if in relative hot spot, either wear clear full eye socket covering glasses or similar coverage sunglasses. Know since the early days of CV (January/Feb) but still not really communicated. Allegedly discussed in National Cabinet even a couple of times when first established...

Common sense is far more trustworthy than vested interests.

 

[Himeno]

Due to demands and production related issues, the woolworths meat packing plant in Truganina is reducing the range it supplies to stores to allow more production of the rest of the range (This was also done in April).

The following lines are being temporarily de-ranged
MACRO FREE RANGE PORK MEDALLIONS 250G
WW AUSSIE PORK CHIPOLATA 600G
LAMB CUTLETS SMALL
WW AUSSIE BEEF CHIPOLATA 600G
WW LAMB RUMP ROAST 2 PACK
BEEF RUMP STEAK MEDALLION SMALL SKIN 300G
WW BEEF WITH CHUNKY CHEESE BURGER 500G
BEEF SCOTCH FILLET STEAK SKIN SMALL
BEEF SIRLOIN CLUB STEAK BONE IN SKIN
LAMB LEG STEAKS HEART SMART RW
PORK LOIN CHOP SKIN SMALL
BEEF SCOTCH FILLET THIN SLICE SKIN 200G
Lamb Leg Butterflied Plain
LAMB CUTLETS EXTRA TRIM MEDIUM
LAMB LEG STEAK SKIN 270G
DICED LAMB HEART SMART 450G
AUSSIE BEEF THICK SAUSAGES
MACRO FREE RANGE PORK MINCE 500G

Truganina supplies prepacked meat to stores across Victoria, Tasmania, Southern NSW, ACT and parts of SA.

 

[drron]

Not entirely true with your frozen veggies claim RAM.
There has been a vegetable processing plant at Ulverstone in Tasmania since 1943.Originally just potatoes and dehydrated foods for the War effort.In the early 50s it began producing canned and frozen veggies.

It was bought by Petersville in 1961 and became Birds Eye Edgell.
Began producing fries for Maccas in 1975.The technology was from Simplot of the USA who eventually bought the business in 1995.

Welcome to Engineers Australia Portal

portal.engineersaustralia.org.au

there were rumours that Simplot would close their Australian canned and frozen facilities as there were losing sales to the Chinese via NZ route.They have denied that.

Is Australia’s last frozen vegetable company close to closing?

factcheck.aap.com.au

.

The Ulverstone plant is now purely potato processing but they also have a factory in Devonport.That was also set up by the Government in WW2 for dehydrating food.After the war it was run by Edgells.

Vegetables other than Potatoes

It was extensively rebuilt in 2004 by Simplot.

Simplot to make most of frozen food demand

Simplot Australia is looking to spend $25 million rebuilding its Devonport vegetable processing factory to capitalise on growth...

www.examiner.com.au

Then in 2013 the plant was to be closed but saved by getting the Woolworth's Select range contract and then later upgraded again.

Simplot deal prolongs NW factory life

CLOSURE of Devonport's Simplot vegetable processing facility has "been taken off the table" after nearly a year of...

www.theadvocate.com.au

So there have been Australian grown and produced canned and frozen veggies on the market for nearly 70 years continuously.

 

[RAM]

Not entirely true with your frozen veggies claim RAM - [ ?? What was not true? Never said there were no Australian producers/packagers? ]
There has been a vegetable processing plant at Ulverstone in Tasmania since 1943.Originally just potatoes and dehydrated foods for the War effort.In the early 50s it began producing canned and frozen veggies.

It was bought by Petersville in 1961 and became Birds Eye Edgell.
Began producing fries for Maccas in 1975.The technology was from Simplot of the USA who eventually bought the business in 1995.

Welcome to Engineers Australia Portal

portal.engineersaustralia.org.au

there were rumours that Simplot would close their Australian canned and frozen facilities as there were losing sales to the Chinese via NZ route.They have denied that.

Is Australia’s last frozen vegetable company close to closing?

factcheck.aap.com.au

.

The Ulverstone plant is now purely potato processing but they also have a factory in Devonport.That was also set up by the Government in WW2 for dehydrating food.After the war it was run by Edgells.

Vegetables other than Potatoes

It was extensively rebuilt in 2004 by Simplot.

Simplot to make most of frozen food demand

Simplot Australia is looking to spend $25 million rebuilding its Devonport vegetable processing factory to capitalise on growth...

www.examiner.com.au

Then in 2013 the plant was to be closed but saved by getting the Woolworth's Select range contract and then later upgraded again.

Simplot deal prolongs NW factory life

CLOSURE of Devonport's Simplot vegetable processing facility has "been taken off the table" after nearly a year of...

www.theadvocate.com.au

So there have been Australian grown and produced canned and frozen veggies on the market for nearly 70 years continuously.

I think you may have mis-read what I wrote.

I did not refer to frozen chips (Simplot mostly) but Frozen Broccoli. Nor did I say that there were no longer any Australian processors.

At the time in Sydney all brands (including home brands) were 'Made in China' frozen broccoli stocked by Coles, Woolies or Aldi = 100% correct.

Companies that had been processing it & processing it in were no longer doing so within Australia for Sydney (at least) - I did not say they'd all gone out of business - just that all frozen broccoli at the time in Sydney chains were 100% "Made in China".

Post our efforts there are now several 'Made in Australia' choices for most frozen vegetables at least.

Now, something curious. You will virtually not find a single mention of this (Chinese trans-shipment via NZ) in ANY of the major media groups in Australia. Have a look? Sure you'll find industry bodies - but try finding a SMH, Telegraph, Australian, AFR, Herald Sun. Adelaide Advertiser, Ch 7, 9 or 10 news article.

Would not have anything to do with 'not biting the hand that feeds them' would it? After all supermarket advertising is often #1 or #2 source of advertising revenue for them (& useful sideline printing the catalogues for them as well). Of course not - just another of those community unfriendly coincidences.

It continues to this day although there has been a slight move within NZ but nothing by the Australian Federal Govt. In NZ for products sold in NZ it has to state the EXACT source of all ingredients. Also due to numerous contamination issues (for NZ to be consumed food ONLY) this has happened.

Remember the 2015 Frozen Berries contamination scare? Have a look where a good number are now 'Product of'.

Who's growing our food?

THE imported fruit contamination scare is a stark reminder of how much supermarket food no longer originates from...

www.farmonline.com.au

THE imported Chinese fruit contamination scare has proven a stark reminder to consumers just how few of their supermarket purchases originate from Australian farms.

While a good number of popular food brands may still be Australian-owned, or at least owned by big name companies which previously used locally-grown ingredients for generations, our food and fresh produce imports now total more than $14 billion a year.


Anyone else think that the NZ Govt's move to group imported agricultural & food from China along with Asbestos, explosives suggests all is not well?

Importing from China to New Zealand: A Complete Guide

NZS product standards, labeling requirements, GST, import duties, selling on Amazon from NZ & more in this comprehensive guide.

www.chinaimportal.com

Import Licenses and Permits
While most products imported to New Zealand don’t require permits, some do. Here’s a list:

• Agricultural items and food
• Asbestos in its raw, fibrous state
• Controlled drugs
• Explosives
• Firearms
  Persistent organic pollutants

However, note that there’s a difference between products regulations and an import permit.

Here are some media sources that I've looked into - you can go and look at the original media release on the NZ industry peak body's web site if you like.

https://ausveg.com.au/media-release...s-from-china-and-sending-on-to-australia[/B]/

Horticulture New Zealand CEO publicly admits to importing vegetables from China and sending on to Australia.


14 March 2013
An admission by the New Zealand Horticulture industry’s Chief Executive has confirmed once again that the New Zealand processed vegetable industry is importing vegetables from China, repackaging them in New Zealand and sending them to Australia as, ‘Made in New Zealand from local and imported ingredients’.
In a recent media release Hort NZ Chief Executive Mr Peter Silcock conceded that New Zealand receives vegetables from China, freezes them and sends them to Australia.
“These sorts of practices are designed to mislead consumers about the origin of their food. If they see that something is a ‘product of New Zealand’ they would expect that it has been grown there, not sent from China to get a sprinkling of New Zealand product before being sent to Australia”, said AUSVEG Chief Executive Officer, Mr Richard Mulcahy.

AUSVEG is the National Peak Industry Body representing Australia’s 9,000 Vegetable and Potato growers.

The Horticulture New Zealand release claims that there is no difference between ‘Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients’ and Made in New Zealand from local and imported ingredients.

“The deciding difference is that China has a Free Trade Agreement with New Zealand and that these practices are now such commonplace they are being endorsed to by the New Zealand Horticulture Industry,” said Mr Mulcahy.

AUSVEG has been campaigning for more stringent Country of Origin Labelling laws so that these sorts of loopholes are not possible.
“It’s unfair that the goodwill of Australian consumers who buy New Zealand produce on the basis that it comes from New Zealand is being so badly abused similarly to the expectation that when buying locally grown produce here in Australia, you expect it to be Australian”, said Mr Mulcahy.

“The fact of the matter is that consumers are finding labels declaring country of origin confusing and difficult to understand. New regulations must be put in place to ensure that no claim of origin can be made that can deceive consumers,” said Mr Mulcahy.
Recent surveys by consumer watchdog Choice show that only 12 per cent of respondents were able to accurately identify the meaning of ‘Made in Australia’ while only three per cent knew the correct definition of ‘Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients’.

Then reported by the ABC:

Loophole means Chinese processed food entering Australia via New Zealand

Processed foods are now the largest category of food imported into Australia.

www.abc.net.au

China uses NZ for backdoor food entry to Oz

By Leith van Onselen Interest.co.nz has published a disturbing report today on how China is using New Zealand as a back door to export potentially hazardous frozen foods into Australia: While a great deal is being said about how seriously China takes the safety of imported foodstuffs (vis a vis...

www.macrobusiness.com.au

 

[LadyC]

Phew - makes me glad we buy at our local farmers markets where you interact directly with the owner/farmer.

We buy our food in bulk and have done for a while as it is significantly cheaper. Luckily we just stocked up on most things in the last week, so have supplies to last us a month or so, regardless of current supply limitations. Our bench freezer was a great purchase.

 

[drron]

Well here's one product produced in Devonport.
.

And this one is from the same production line.
.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Well here's one product produced in Devonport.
View attachment 224004.

And this one is from the same production line.
View attachment 224006.

Unless you have product packaging from a few years ago, you cannot show RAM was wrong.

RAM is stating his lobbying in the past has got Broccoli to change so that there are some now From a low point of none.

 

[drron]

We have had a neighbour who worked for Simplot and our son went to school with one of Australias largest broccoli growers who had a contract for his crop.In those days would have been Edgell's in Bathurst which got taken over by Simplot.
However Simplot is an American Company so it is true that there is no Australian company producing Australian frozen veggies since 1995 when Simplot toook over Birds Eye/Edgells.

 

[RAM]

Well here's one product produced in Devonport.
View attachment 224004.

And this one is from the same production line.
View attachment 224006.

At last count, as of August 2020 that I know of there are 11 different 'Grown in Australia' brands of frozen broccoli florets available - a win for the consumer. Hopefully there are some more.

We seem to be having two different conversations in one.

I have detailed this in the previous posts - but here goes one last time...

In 2013/14 there were NO frozen broccoli packets/brands sold in Sydney for Birds Eye, McCain, Woolworths Home Brand, Coles Home Brand, Aldi brands etc that was 'Made in Australia'. Not one 'name' nor 'white' label brand, zero.

I started a campaign to get the 3 major chains to stock 'Made in Australia from Australian Grown. Both at the consumer level & throughout the financial markets (one of the positives of managing Super for a wide variety of groups). For example when at the regular 6 monthly meeting with Industry Fund XYZ, I'd drop a comment along the lines - 'What do you guys think about there no longer being any Australian grown & processed frozen broccoli in Coles or Woolies these days? It all comes from China.'

Yes, I had been mentioning water contamination as an investment theme to them for a number of years....

The pressure got to Woolies first & they caved. They were the first to re-introduce 'Grown in Australia' frozen broccoli as a 'homebrand' or 'white label' product again. Coles & Aldi followed suit not long after. Who knows perhaps one well-known union may have mentioned unavoidable delays starting to happen randomly at 4 distribution centres - these things are known to happen (not with one logisitics company though, but that's a story that you'll never hear about). Amazing what can get a union offside/onside.

Read Blanche d'Alpuget's book (1982 version) Robert J. Hawke: A biography for example. VERY revealing chapter on the 'Murdoch sauna, Fairfax pool room, Murdoch tennis court' - name attached to location likely to be wrong, it was 1984 that I read it but both media groups just seem to take it in terms to defame the then head of the ACTU every 15-18 months, Hawke would sue that publisher (Murdoch or Fairfax) and the day before it was due to go to court there'd be a confidential settlement which just happens to be tax free. Another coincidence - while Hawke was head of ACTU there was not one strike at either Fairfax or Murdoch in any area. Not one. All spelt out by Blanche in copious detail. I got my use of 'coincidence' from that book and a very poor mark for that assigment, 'Political conflict in Australia'. Seems the marker did not appreciate my assertion that political & other 'donations' have more to do with outcomes in Australia than community benefit. I later found out that he was an election campaign advisor for the ALP. Oops - learnt an important lesson about due diligence - so much easier in the internet world.

Did you know that industry funds are now the largest owner of Australian shares (listed companies) these days, followed in 2nd or 3rd place by for-profit super funds?

So today, there are a range of 'white label' "Grown in Australia" frozen vegetables available in addition to broccoli which came on the scene in the months following - such as green beans, peas etc.

Those products did not exist until after 2013/14.

I believe you see them today even in Tassie....

None of those 'white label' "Grown in Australia" existed before then - not one.

NOW the new question....

Woolworths have launched a new frozen broccoli product, 'Certified Organic Broccoli Florets' 450g emblazoned with 'ACO Certified Organic'.


They must be good for you - it has 5 stars! However the health rating is a generic rating for any broccoli, the product is & has not been individually tested for contaminants by Woolworths nor any Australian Govt nor industry body.

Where are they packed? Where were they grown?



Pays NOT to forget your glasses with you when you go shopping

Australia - No.

NZ - No.

How about Belgium = YES.

Where grown? W H O . K N O W S!



Packed in Belgium from multiple origins. Just the origins are not mentioned. Ring up Woolies and ask what countries?

I suspect one of those 'origins' is China - anyone willing to bet against that? China has been increasing its exports of F&V to Belgium in the last 5 years. Belgium now imports F&V more from China than from the UK.

Guess where many of the frozen berries sold in Australian supermarkets are now "packed in from multiple origins"? Have a look next time you're in Coles or Woolies.

No it is not Australia.

BTW - as you know Belgium is not a big country yet it is the world's largest exporter of frozen vegetables...

Guess who's 2nd largest?


Searchable List of Frozen Vegetables Exporting Countries in 2019

Rank	Exporter	Exported Frozen Vegetables (US$)
1.	Belgium	$1,197,729,000
2.	China	$1,170,493,000
3.	Spain	$718,841,000
4.	Mexico	$495,578,000

Belgium's land area is about 1/8th that of NZ or the UK.

Fun fact - China is the world's 4th largest exporter (by value) of food. Yet a large number of their own citizens try to buy non-Chinese produced food.

 

[Pushka]

I gave up on the frozen broccoli last closure when it sold out. The quality was pretty rank anyway (stalks) and in most SA stores there is only one brand available. Fresh broccoli was widely available so i just buy a big bunch and parboil and freeze myself in individual packets. Much nicer. And local.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Dan also announced new penalties.

FOR THOSE MEANT TO BE IN SELF-ISOLATION

More than 3000 doorknocks. More than 800 not at home (some may be legit such as exercise).

From now, no exercise if isolating at home away from the home.

More than 500 additional ADF and 300 extra health staff for doorknocking (to check and to also answer questions and provide support).

Doorknocking to be increased per household checked. ie Multiple random visits.


Penalty. New on the spot fine is $4957 (for those that breach isolation order). Repeat breaches, going to work will be a court matter with fines upto $20,000

I think you are posting on the wrong thread.

 

[Denali]

The only frozen stuff I buy is a bag of Birdseye peas and corn and thats about 2 or 3 times per year. I just dont trust the frozen stuff plus I have a small freezer.

I did buy a packet of Woolies bake at home bread style baguettes for $2 and was shocked that it came from France. Coles is made in Australia but looks like absolute rubbish in comparison.