On the surface this is all apparently a move in the right direction. Wal-Mart is the biggest food store by a factor of two in the nation. One should never forget however that Wal-Mart is in business to make money. They are not a social service agency.
Marion Nestle tackles some of the issues and questions surrounding this new deal from Wal-Mart and she touches on some things that I think we need to keep in mind as we see this go forward.
We are still talking about mostly processed foods and highly processed foods with slightly less salt and sugar are still questionable food choices.
Two, lowering prices on produce can impact small farmers. Wal-Mart is famous for using their clout to drive companies out of business. We need to insure there is some balance here.
Lastly, no one is talking about Wal-Mart's nearly criminal low wages and working conditions and how these practices drive a lot of poorer people to make necessarily poor food choices.
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