בס''ד

My Pet Peeve Blog..In other words sounding off........

As I have written in the past, last May I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. B”H, today my diabetes is in control and I am free of any symptoms. But, and this is a big but....as long as I look after myself, exercise, watch my weight and how much sugar products I consume daily, my diabetes will be in check. If I cheat and I know I am only cheating myself, the diabetes will be back.

I like to use some diabetes products that have the little red symbol from the Israel Diabetic Association.

I have a pet peeve and maybe if some of my readers who are also fellow diabetics have the same pet peeve. Why are products that are either sugar free or contain a sugar alternate more expensive than the same product that contains sugar? Do manufacturers think that they have a right to charge more because they are catering to a specific population?

I will give you an example. I picked up some regular strawberry jam for my husband. The same company makes a sugar free strawberry jam in the same size bottle. My jam was 1 shekel more. Do I have to pay a penalty just because I am a diabetic? If this was just one product I wouldn’t be so upset but there are dozens of products on the shelf where the regular product is one price and the diabetic product costs more. This is just not fair!

The next question is it the manufacturer or the grocery store that jacks up the price? I have checked in several stores and it seems to me that they all play the same game. What is the shopping like in your local stores?

When I mentioned my pet peeve recently, the person I was speaking to said that he believed that because the cost of artificial sweeteners costs more than sugar, production is less, making the product not profitable.

While this statement alone could be true, I believe that when you have a good margin [in other words profits] on your main products, the fact that you take advantage and up the price of a specialty product is not being a good corporate citizen. Now I am not talking about luxury products, but about everyday foods.

Where I shop, some products that are imported from the UK or Italy are cheaper than products that produced locally. I have one question. Why?

Now don’t get me wrong, I believe that every company has the right to make a profit on their products, but not on the backs of people who buy diabetic or other specialty health products.

If I were not a diabetic, I would not buy diabetic products. I would buy the regular product. I buy diabetic products because these are products that will help keep me healthy. Why am I being penalized and have to pay more? True, the difference in cost per product is small, but when you shop for several products, added up together, the difference is significant.

To be fair, the main grocery store where I shop recently had a 2 for 1 sale on diabetic foods. This was just before the store inventory. Guess they didn’t want to have to count all their products. In a couple of days, the shelves were bare, and the products were only replaced a week later at the regular high price....after inventory.

Now that I have said my two cents, the question is who do we complain to: the store, the manufacture or consumer groups.

I am going to pose my question to the Israeli Diabetic Association. If I get an answer, I will write about it.

Until next time........
Feel free to comment and pass my blog around.
Miriam