Cost of Fruit and Vegetables Soars in Developing world – While Junk Food Gets Cheaper
May 12th, 2015Via: Telegraph:
Fruit and vegetables have almost doubled in price in parts of the developing world over the past 20 years, calling into question the idea that modern farming methods lower basic food prices for the poor.
Paradoxically, the cost of some processed foods has fallen by a fifth over the same time, prompting fears over increasing obesity.
Researchers with the Overseas Development Institute looked at relative food prices in Brazil, China, South Korea and Mexico to produce “The rising cost of a healthy diet” – the first study of its kind in emerging economies.
The report’s authors found that fruit and vegetables had risen in price by up to 91 per cent in real terms between 1990 and 2012, a bigger increase than for other any other food group. “In high income countries over the last 30 years it seems that the cost of healthy items in the diet has risen more than that of less healthy options, thereby encouraging diets that lead to excess weight,” said Steve Wiggins, one of the authors of the report.
“It seems the same may apply in emerging economies, where prices of fruit and vegetables have been rising more than most other foods, including energy-dense processed foods.”
Many fresh veggies that are shipped into rural Alaska are so cheap that it is obvious that near-slave labor is being utilized to grow, process and ship them 3,000+ miles. Deeply troubling….
Meats and fish have doubled in less than 10 years.