Zack Polanski Food Pricing: 7p vegetables prompt calls for regulation

Zack Polanski used a speech at the Bakers’ Union conference to argue that supermarket goods, including vegetables sold for 7p, are too cheap. In his remarks, the Green leader said the price was not a sign of a healthy system and called for more regulation of supermarkets.

Polanski said he had been thinking about a friend who was excited about buying vegetables for 7p in one supermarket. He told delegates: "I was thinking of a friend of mine the other day – who I’m not judging for this, I understand, but they were really excited that they were buying vegetables for 7p in one of the supermarkets."

Bakers’ Union conference remarks

He added: "That is not a sign of a healthy system … someone is being exploited somewhere and if you are paying 7p for vegetables then something is not right." Polanski tied that view to a wider argument about food costs and working conditions, saying governments and local councils need to keep food prices down so people can afford to eat.

He also said workers need to be paid properly and to have proper dignity and working conditions. Those comments put supermarket pricing, pay and regulation in the same frame, rather than treating cheap food as a separate issue.

Polanski on supermarkets

Polanski called for more regulation of supermarkets and warned that the status quo cannot go on as it is. The remarks sharpen the debate over whether very low prices are a sign of efficiency or a sign that costs are being pushed onto workers somewhere in the chain.

For readers, the immediate takeaway is straightforward: Polanski is pressing for a political response that would not leave supermarket pricing entirely to the market. His argument is that cheap vegetables do not settle the question of fairness if workers and suppliers are carrying the pressure elsewhere.