"Between three and four percent" the prices had to rise this year, jurgen abraham, chairman of the federal association of the german food industry (BVE), told the "tagesspiegel" newspaper. This is the industry’s response to persistently high raw material prices and rising personnel and energy costs. If retailers, with their strong market power, prevent price increases, companies will run out of steam in their ability to perform and innovate.
The head of the food and hospitality union (NGG), franz-josef mollenberg, called on consumers to rethink their attitude to food and nutrition. "Everything has its price. Good food, too. Especially when it comes to food and drink, many people go by the motto ‘stinginess is cool,’" explained mollenberg on sunday. The industrial food production and the mass animal husbandry, which are always criticized, are a direct consequence of the low prices demanded by the german customers.
It is a myth that supermarket customers are only interested in cheap prices, said thilo bode, managing director of the consumer organization foodwatch, to the dpa news agency. "They are also willing to pay for quality. However, they must then also recognize whether one food is better than the other."Information on animal husbandry, for example, is completely inadequate. Production becomes more expensive when, for example, better raw materials are used for fodder. In view of many other factors, however, this does not mean that products on the shelves will have to become considerably more expensive as a result. Bode also called for stronger consequences from food scandals such as dioxin in animal feed.
Meanwhile, german agriculture minister ilse aigner (CSU) spoke out against a sugar and fat tax. "I don’t want to dictate to people what they should eat. A punitive tax for supposedly unhealthy foods will not happen with me," aigner told the "bild" newspaper (monday). Although individual EU countries had introduced such taxes, they considered this to be window dressing. "In reality, the point of such punitive taxes is not to make people leaner, but to make the state coffers fuller."
The international green week in berlin (20. To 29. January) is the world’s largest show of agriculture, food and horticulture. To 77. According to the organizers, more than 1,600 exhibitors from almost 60 countries will be attending the event, and more than 400,000 visitors have attended each of the past few years.