McApples

Great article in the Guardian today on the effect of big retailers on the healthy foods market. In this case, they focus on Washington apples. The switch by McDonald's and others to healthier foods might actually create less diversity on our tables.

The entry into the market of McDonald's, which prides itself on the fact that its meals taste the same wherever you are in the world, will only accelerate this trend towards uniform mass consumption. The bigger a producer, the greater the likelihood that McDonald's will want to do business with it because it will be able to provide everything the chain needs. "It will want large volumes of uniform apples that have to be the same variety and the same size," says O'Rourke. "And it wants to deal with large shippers who can produce those numbers."