Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history. The most recent evidence, linking it to leukaemia and lymphoma, has added substantial fuel to the ongoing protests of doctors, scientists and consumer groups who allege that this artificial sweetener should never have been released onto the market and that allowing it to remain in the food chain is killing us by degrees.
Aspartame should never have reached the marketplace. But even if the authorities were to remove it from sale tomorrow, how much faith should consumers place in the other artificial sweeteners on the market?
You do if… you live in an area where healthy food is either non-existent or too expensive. This is likely to be the case if your only ‘local’ food shopping option is a supermarket, and you have no good small independent local shops, farmers’ markets or box schemes serving your area.
According to a Mori poll in March 2004, the fairtrade mark is now recognised by 39 per cent of the British public, up from 11 per cent five years ago. But what difference does fairtrade actually make to the lives of the producers? John Atkin looks at the Nicaraguan community of La Pita who sell half of their coffee on the fairtrade market
In intensive farming animals are viewed as units of production to be ground relentlessly through the system. Nothing could be more different at Kite’s Nest in the Cotswolds, where the livestock is actively engaged in deciding how the farm is managed.
After more than 20 years work, Mike Hands, a British tropical ecologist has come up with a groundbreaking way to stop vast areas of rainforest destroyed
Imagine you could turn 30 per cent of your household waste, at no cost, into high-quality compost for your plants, while also reducing toxic emissions from incinerator plants...
I had always wondered what it was like to work at a supermarket checkout. So when I stumbled upon an article about a Tesco scheme called Twist – short for Tesco Week In Store Together – I took my chance.
No European country is as reliant on supermarkets for its food shopping as Britain. It is no coincidence that the UK also has the worst eating habits in Europe.
The most successful celebrity endorsement ever, Prunella Scales’ TV ads have added more than £2.2 billion to Tesco’s profts. And yet she says she really cares about the environment.
Are you a ‘premium loyal’, a ‘loyal low spender’, a ‘can’t stay away’… or don’t you care? Tesco does, and uses the data collected from your loyalty card to dictate what you buy, when you buy and how much you buy.
