Monday, February 25, 2008

World food prices to impact on Nairn's fastfood habit?

Most of us can still afford a fish supper or another choice from the many outlets on Nairn High St. But elsewhere in the world things are not quite so simple even for people who have up to now been immune from food shortages. The Financial Times reports news from the World Food Program.
'WFP crisis talks come as the body sees the emergence of a “new area of hunger” in developing countries where even middle-class, urban people are being “priced out of the food market” because of rising food prices'
And where there's a shortage, ration books get printed: 'In response to increasing food prices, Egypt has widened its food rationing system for the first time in two decades while Pakistan has reintroduced a ration card system that was abandoned in the mid-1980s.'
The article is sobering reading and very soon we too may not be able to enjoy the choice we have enjoyed for many years. Are we at the dawn of a new age of austerity?

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