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Main image: Chambers farm in Kent, Secrets of your Supermarket Food
We buy 95% of our food from just 10 supermarket chains. But how much do we really know about how our food is grown, made and sold to us?
In Channel 5’s Secrets of your Supermarket Food,Sian Williams, Stefan Gates and Nisha Katona lift the lid on the secrets about our food that the supermarkets don’t want us to know.
With the help of a different family each week, the investigative consumer series reveals the truth behind the labels.
The team visits farms, factories and labs to uncover more about what we’re feeding our families and whether it’s as good for our health as it is for our wallets.
This week, Episode 3 of Secrets of Your Supermarket Food unpeels the truth about the fruit and veg we buy.
With the help of dietitian, Aisling Pigott, Sian discovers what actually counts as one of our five a day – with some surprising results.
Potatoes, yams and many pre-prepared salads don’t count but baked beans, tinned soups and microwave cauliflower cheese do.
Stefan goes behind the scenes of one of the largest soft fruit farms in the UK to observe how our summer favourite, strawberries, gets from farm to fork in tip top condition.
At Chambers farm in Kent, he meets the army of fruit pickers and packers who work around the clock to ensure their strawberries reach the supermarket shelves within less than 24 hours from the point of picking.
Nisha heads to Lancashire to visit a farm like no other as she discovers how mushrooms are grown and harvested.
Sales of trendy shitake and oyster mushrooms have exploded over the last two years and Nisha meets farmer John to find out why.
She also discovers that mushrooms are one of the few food sources of vitamin D, a vitamin which is vital for our immune systems and one we usually only get through sunlight.
You can even boost your mushrooms’ vitamin D content by leaving them exposed to sunlight on the windowsill.
Back at the Secrets of Your Supermarket HQ, Sian reveals the best and worst fruits for the environment.
This week’s family, the Covalechis, discovers that mangos, avocados and plums are the worst offenders and that grapefruits, lemons and melons come out on top.
Sian also reveals how much fibre there is in our favourite fruit and veg and, with the help of Aisling Piggott, shows the Covalechi family how to boost their fibre intake with a few simple changes.
Meanwhile, Stefan goes in search of the cheapest place to buy your five a day and the results are surprising…
Secrets of your Supermarket Food airs on Wednesday at 20.00 on Channel 5.
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