WE now know that the Worcester Sauce contamination fiasco has affected over 400 well known products that are purchased regularly by ordinary families.

The Food Standards Agency apparently knew of the problem two weeks before they did anything.

All the experts tell us that there's no reason to panic, despite the fact that big business reputations are being destroyed as a result of this country's biggest ever product recall. Scared?

I'm a label freak, and steer clear of ingredients that don't agree with me and I've never seen a label that states 'this product contains Worcester Sauce,' but apparently a lot do. The public really have no idea of what they are eating.

We can all remember mad-cow disease and we all know about the shameful practice of battery feeding. And there's genetically modified crops to come. Scared?

The food industry gives little consideration to animals in the food chain, and consumers who keep them in business. But who's to blame?

Can we really expect to pay as little as £3 for a whole pre-cooked chicken in a supermarket. That's the kind of price we've got used to, but if you stop to think about the chain of events that have led to that bird being on the shelf, how can the price be so ridiculously low? Something or someone has suffered in that chain.

And think of the level of state pensions, the wage claims and increase in inflation if we all opted to pay the full ethical cost of farming. Now I'm scared!

So it's back to the allotments I'm afraid.

M SQUIRES

Nythe

Swindon