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Exemplar for internal assessment resource Home Economics for Achievement Standard 91469Supermarkets influence us in many ways. The supermarketpractice of selling and promoting glossy, blemish free fruit andvegetables all year round has had a big impact on customers.Consumer expectation has been altered to create a new ‘normal’ for the purchase of fruit and1vegetables. As Dr Rosemary Stanton quotes: “supermarkets arrived in the 1960s insteadof walking to local shops with a list and asking for what you wanted, shoppers now drive tosupermarkets and make their decisions according to the display on offer”. Thereforesupermarkets need to display items to catch your eye and encourage you to buy. AConsumer Report ‘Supermarket Layout Tactics’ April 2010 states “Fruit and Vegetables arealways at the entrance – they display freshness and healthiness. Having fruit and vegetablesat the entrance definitely isn’t for the convenience of shoppers, as the fruit and veges arelikely to get squashed at the bottom of the trolley.” This is why the fruit and vegetables areuniform in shape, shiny and presented in even rows or stacks, no sign of dirt or bugs, andare sometimes misted with water to make them sparkle and increase the look of freshness.When food was grown in the backyard or at home instead of buying from the supermarkets,fruit and vegetables came in many sizes, colours, and shapes. If the carrot had a knobble it2was eaten, if the apple had a blemish it was eaten. However, supermarket now days havechanged our whole perspective of what is “normal” and what is just plain ugly. Consumersnow won’t buy vegetables and fruits that aren’t ‘pretty’ or don’t look ‘normal’ andsupermarkets won’t sell them either. This attitude towards food of “if it doesn’t look good, itwon’t taste good” has been influenced by supermarkets only selling glossy, colourful andunblemished produce on the shelves. This attitude starts from the picking of the produce. In1968 there were 90 apple cultivators and 50 pear cultivators but by 1990 it had dropped to 27apples and 9 pears. This is because of the technical specifications (source: Te Ara On-lineEncyclopaedia). Most of the waste occurs due to the produce not meeting the “technicalspecifications”. Many customers’ link freshness to how good and ‘pretty’ the produce looks.Based on our survey done at our school in the year 9-11 food technology class, we gavethem a fruit labelled A and B. ‘A’ was the pretty, glossy supermarket fruit and ‘B’ was the fruitgrown in the backyard. Most of them preferred the one labelled ‘A’ – this was because it was 3normal looking and it is what they’re use to eating at home. Just because some produce isdiscoloured or is a different shape than usual, doesn’t mean it won’t taste the same to manyothers. There is a huge amount of wasted produce due to the technical specifications ofsupermarkets. Supermarkets have influenced consumers so much that they prefer to stick towhat they’re use to eating, than trying something new.We now don’t eat foods that are fresh and grown locally – instead we mainly choose foods4according to cost. Health Sponsorship Council survey (2010) ‘Shopping behaviours of NewZealand Households’ “75% cost/price compared to 40% freshness, 40% quality, 39%Healthiness and only 16% seasonality. Before the 1960’s when supermarkets such as theFoodtown “all convenience” store was introduced, people got their fruit and vegetables fromeither the local markets or grown at home in the backyard. People could only eat the fruit andvegetables when they were in season and fresh and grown locally. Now a days freshproduce is sold in supermarkets all year round having a big influence on consumers. ‘Eightyper cent of shoppers believe the fresh vegetables sold in supermarket are less than 4 daysold - in reality, they can be up to nine days old when they arrive, and remain on the shelf fora further four. Including the time these vegetables are stored at home before being eatenthese fresh items can be more than 16 days old’ (source Daily mail article UK March 2010). NZQA 2015

Exemplar for internal assessment resource Home Economics for Achievement Standard 91469Supermarkets have limited the knowledge consumers have of the availability and seasonalchanges of fruits and vegetables. Based on a survey we did on year 9 to year 11 foodtechnology students, only four students knew that kiwi fruit were grown in the winter andhardly any students knew when new potatoes were available. This clearly shows the impactof supermarkets importing fruits and vegetables so consumers can eat them all year round.‘For example, the apple season runs for three months of the year and the apple industry hasperfected climate controlled storage so that the country can enjoy apples all year round.‘(Brigid Andersen, March 19, 2010, ABC News). Individuals begin to lack the knowledge ofthe seasons in which fruit and vegetables are available. This is then carried on throughgenerations.Consumers are also unaware of the effects and storage conditions these produce are kept into have them all year round to keep up with consumer’s demands. “Some produce is up to10 months old because of consumer demands” (The Sun Herald newspaper, Australia, Jan20, 2008). Although there are no statistics for New Zealand, we assume this is the same.“Fresh vegetables can lose up to 45 per cent of important nutrients by the time they reachthe dinner table. Time spent in storage, in transportation and sitting on the shelves means itcan be more than two weeks from the vegetables being picked to being zz1tOwzcJ2CThe importation of fruits and vegetables from around the world has also made consumersunaware of how the produce was grown, or what herbicides/pesticides were used becausewe are now disconnected to those who grow the produce. I believe that being able to buyproduce all year round can positively affect our health because we are able to purchase awide range of produce all year round, and thus, we are able to get the nutritional benefits ofeating multiple different types of fresh fruits and vegetables. The Ministry of Health 2003Report stated that only three out of every five children met the recommended 3 servings ofvegetables a day. I think being able to purchase produce out of season is both positive andnegative for the health of our communities, but our demand for convenience comes at theexpense of being disconnected with the grower and our fading knowledge of seasonalproduce, and biosecurity risks. NZQA 2015567

Exemplar for internal assessment resource Home Economics for Achievement Standard 91469Grade Boundary: Low Merit3.For Merit, the student needs to investigate, in depth, the influence of multinationalfood corporations on eating patterns in New Zealand.This involves analysing the practices used by the multinational food corporationsand linking these to changes in eating patterns in New Zealand.This student has analysed how consumer expectations around the purchase of fruitand vegetables have changed over time as a result of supermarket practices.Evidence is provided to support the analysis (1).The analysis explains how changes to consumer perception of what is ‘normal’ forfruit and vegetables have resulted in only having uniform produce available (2) (3)(4). The change between eating seasonal and having produce available all yearround is explained (5) (6).Concern is raised that lower intakes of fruit and vegetables may be a result of thesepractices (7). Some concern about societal well-being is also raised around thedisconnection between the consumer and grower (8).For a more secure Merit, the student could analyse in greater depth how practicesare used to change consumer perception around purchasing ‘normal’ fruit andvegetables, for example, positioning in stores, display and packaging. NZQA 2015

Exemplar for internal assessment resource Home Economics for Achievement Standard 91469The fresh produce for sale at the supermarket is unblemished, ofa uniform size, shape and colour and clean. This has changedconsumers’ food choices and eating patterns as they now havehigh expectations of what fruit and vegetables should look like and will not select vegetablesand fruits with slight imperfections. “In today’s supermarkets there is no place, amid theshelves of lustrous fruits and vegetables, for such comically deformed specimens.” –(Strange Fruit, By Jonathan Duffy, BBC News Magazine).1The consumers’ attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and values are all altered due to thesupermarket only having uniform “fresh” produce. They will now only buy fruit and vegetablesthat are considered to society “perfect” when in fact some of the freshest best tasting fruits2and vegetables are not appealing to the eye. By society only buying eye appealing producemeans large quantities of foods go to waste. Supermarkets say they are simply respondingto customer demands “ugly” fruit and vegetables get left on the shelf .” (“Strange Fruit”article by Jonathan Duffy, BBC News Magazine 2012). When harvested, the “ugly” fruit andvegetables get sent to pig farms and given to the pigs. This produce is perfectly fine andtastes like any regular fruit or vegetables.My teacher supplied the class with a carrot that was home grown. However it was grey incolour, and was extremely knobbly. When given this carrot to try we became aware that ittasted like a carrot you would get at a supermarket, in fact it was sweeter and tasted fresher.“Sniggering apart, the contest high-lights how our taste buds come to be conquered by oureyes”(“Strange Fruit” article by Jonathan Duffy, BBC News Magazine 2012)All together our class surveyed 95 students from our college and asked them which fruit theywould prefer out of two pictures. One picture of fruit that is sold at the supermarket (uniformsize), the other picture of orchard grown fruit (not visually appealing) the students wereunaware of where the fruits came from before their decision. In this survey the majoritypreferred option a (the uniformed, well-coloured and shaped fruit from the supermarket. Thereason being option A “Was bigger and more colourful, looks juicy”, “it looks clean, fresh andripe”. Whereas they said option B didn’t have such nice colours and shapes and because“they’d never tried B or seen B”, they being used to option A and unfamiliar with option B.With perspectives getting changed on what the ideal fruits or vegetables look like it has ahuge impact on the way people especially children eat. As the Ministry of Health 2003 reportshowed, only approximately three out of five children met the recommended number of 3 servings of vegetables a day. This may be because they now have a high standard to whatthe “perfect” vegetables or fruit looks due to the supermarkets uniformed produce. By kidsnot getting the recommended intake it could highly affect their health. As these children aregrowing, it is the most crucial time for them to get all the nutrients they need.Back before supermarkets were invented or around, consumers used to have to grow theirown fruit and vegetables or get them from the markets or friends close by. Back then fruitsand vegetables could only be eaten in their certain season, as importing/travelling from longdistance was not possible as certain technology like refrigeration and freezers were notaround. Nowadays many of our fruits and vegetables are imported from overseas, makingthem available all year around. This could be considered a good thing as people could gettheir favourite fruits or vegetables all year around adding to their 5 a day servings. Howeverit changes knowledge on fruits and vegetables as people become unaware of when theactual seasons are. This could be a problem as the fruit and vegetables you buy from thesupermarket when they not in season in NZ, makes the consumers become unaware of NZQA 20153456

Exemplar for internal assessment resource Home Economics for Achievement Standard 91469where their food actually comes from, as it is from different countries. Our supermarketshelves are stocked with foods that have travelled many miles. When looking at a list fromwhere different fruits and vegetables come from, many of them come from different countrieseg garlic from China, snap peas from Africa, tomatoes from Australia, grapes from Chile, andeven mangos that travel 10,952kms from Mexico. – (Long distance food, Green Party – factsheet)At our school my class did a survey of 95 students to find out if they were aware of theseasons of different fruits and vegetables, the results were extremely interesting as itbecame apparent that the way this generation has been raised makes them unaware of theseasons as the produce sold at the supermarkets is all year around, being imported fromdifferent countries. In the survey, out of 95 students only three students knew the season ofkiwi fruit, it being a winter fruit.7However, all year round fruit and vegetables could be good for getting the amount ofnutrients you need and getting the recommended amounts (5 servings a day). But by thefruit being imported from other countries could mean they don’t have all the nutrients itoriginally had as it would have travelled long distances and not be as fresh. Ms Balfour says“buying food out of season shows how disconnected Australians have become with the land”,“Because of the disconnection we don’t seem to know where our food actually comes from.”– (Unseasonal desires, ABC News, Brigid Andersen). Consumers are also unaware of wherethe produce was grown, how it was grown and what herbicides/pesticides have been used.8The following facts suggest consumers should be more careful about where our producecomes from. “fresh tomatoes in the bulk bin in supermarkets are often Australian tomatoesthat have been soaked in the highly toxic insecticide dimethoate to combat fruit fly, aninsecticide that cannot be removed by washing and which has been found to disruptreproductive function, cause chromosomal aberrations, damage the immune system, disruptthe endocrine system and affect the nervous system; New Zealand has banned the highlytoxic insecticide endosulfan but some countries we import food from still use it on food crops,including Australia, USA, Canada, China, and India” Greens Party Fact Sheet to supportCountry of Origin Labelling 2011. Most supermarkets do label their produce but consumersneed to ask if they cannot see clear labels. NZQA 2015

Exemplar for internal assessment resource Home Economics for Achievement Standard 91469Grade Boundary: High Achieved4.For Achieved, the student needs to investigate the influence of multinational foodcorporations on eating patterns in New Zealand.This involves: explaining factors that influence eating patternspresenting information on a range of practices used by multinational foodcorporations to influence eating patternsexplaining how the practices used by multinational food corporationsinfluence eating patterns in New Zealand.This student has explained how supermarkets practices have influenced consumerexpectations around the purchase of fruit and vegetables. Some practices used tochange consumer perception of ‘normal’ produce are explained (1). Some evidenceis used to show how eating patterns have been changed (2).Concern are raised about the wastage of imperfect produce (3).A comparison between the attitudes of an older person (4) and the student (5)highlights the effect the supermarkets practices have had on the consumers’ eatingpatterns.The supply of produce all year round rather than by seasons is briefly explained (6)along with a positive effect for the hospitality industry (7). A comparison between theattitudes of an older person (8) and the student (7) highlights the effect this changehas had.To reach Merit, the student could analyse in more detail how practices are used tochange consumer perception around purchasing ‘normal’ fruit and vegetables. Moreevidence could be used to support the analysis. NZQA 2015

Exemplar for internal assessment resource Home Economics for Achievement Standard 91469When we go to the supermarket, all fruits and vegetables lookgood. Also, they look the same. Fruits and vegetables that areclean, unblemished, of a uniform size, shape and colour. Theyare what people think fresh, tasty, and high in nutrition. Does that mean farm, local productsare not? Are those different from supermarket ones? That’s just a misconception.Supermarkets fruit and vegetable standard has influenced many people on their foodchoices, attitudes and beliefs.Supermarket products are clean, unblemished, of a uniform size, shape and colour.Supermarkets arrived in the 1960s and since 1960s consumers were looking at the cleanproducts. Now, consumers are used to buying the clean product. They think it is normal toget those. A major goal of marketing is to change our perception of what is “normal”.Advertising and promotions push things until we consider it normal. (Dr Rosemary Stanton,Nutritionist). Consumers now have a perception that unclean, blemished, different sized fruitand vegetables are not good and they lack nutrition and flavour. However, the shape andlook does not matter. Small, deformed applies are perfectly fine to eat. I went to an orchardand picked some. The apples were small, deformed, blemished and different colours.Comparing them to the supermarket apple, orchard apple was much fresher and tastier.Orchard apple was much crunch, sweet and fresh. Supermarket apples looked clean, bigand fresh, but it wasn’t as good as it looked like. Today, the big supermarkets routinelystipulate to farmers what their product – both conventional and organic – looks like (BBCNews, Strange Fruit).12Since supermarkets are so strict on standard, every year, thousands of tons of fruit andvegetables are rejected by supermarkets not on the taste grounds, but because they don’tlook good. (BBC News, Strange Fruit). Because the consumers are so used to seeing clean 3products, supermarkets only put those products on the shelf. They also demand farmers to“produce” clean products. Supermarket demands affect farmers, because most of theircrops can’t be sold, because they are blemished or d

Zero and two different-sized bottles of Coca-Cola) and two brands of white bread. The full list of the 40 top-sellers tells a similar story, as buyers choose soft drinks, snack foods and confectionery.” Public health nutritionist Bronwen King said the data sho