Tag: food

Mamdani’s Socialist Government Considering Subsidizing For-Profit Grocery Stores to Compete With State-Supported Ones

Recently, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that he was making good on his campaign promise to bring down food costs by opening state-sponsored grocery stores that would sell goods at below cost. The stores will also not be required to pay taxes or rent.

By establishing these state-sponsored stores, Mamdani is not reducing food costs. He is reducing the price for consumers while placing a larger burden on taxpayers, most of whom will not be able to access the city stores.

To make matters worse, these stores are required to pay a “living wage,” which is estimated at more than double the minimum wage. Furthermore, they are required to provide healthcare and other benefits for employees. So, not only will the government have to supplement the lower prices of goods, but it will also have to support dramatically higher operating costs.

Apart from the fact that selling goods below cost in stores that cannot cover their operating expenses is an unsustainable model, the other problem with state-sponsored grocery stores is that they make it difficult for the private sector to compete. Private grocers and bodega associations have protested the decision. A bodega trade group, the United Bodegas of America, representing roughly 14,000 businesses, is preparing a lawsuit arguing that the taxpayer-subsidized stores create unfair competition, both on pricing and through the use of rent-free city land.

John Catsimatidis, CEO of Gristedes and D’Agostino’s, has threatened multiple times over more than a year to close, sell, or relocate his stores. Before the election, he told Fox Business, “If the city of New York is going socialist, I will definitely close, or sell, or move or franchise the Gristedes locations,” adding that he would also consider moving his corporate offices to New Jersey.

After Mamdani won the election, Catsimatidis predicted the plan “would collapse our food supply, kill private industry, and drag us down a path toward the bread lines of the old Soviet Union.” More recently, he has said he might relocate operations to Florida instead, citing declining sales and increased shoplifting that he attributes to city policy. He also said profitability has suffered for two years, making layoffs and operational scale-backs more likely. He has not announced a definite timeline for relocation or layoffs and is still evaluating his options.

On the unfair-competition point specifically, Catsimatidis told Fox News Digital, “The people that are going to run those five stores are not going to pay any real estate taxes, not going to pay any rent,” adding, “If I don’t pay any rent or real estate taxes, I can bring down the cost of a product 20% across the board.”

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RFK Jr. Torches CNN’s Erin Burnett After Attempting to Discredit Affordable Meals Featured on MAHA’s New Food Show: ‘TDS Has So Debilitated’ Her That She Abandoned Common Sense and Basic Arithmetic

The far-left hacks at CNN are so terrified of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement that they have completely abandoned basic math just to attack Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. blasted CNN host Erin Burnett after her program aired a ridiculous “investigation” attempting to discredit the affordable meals featured on Kennedy’s new cooking series, The Real Food Show.

Kennedy’s program, inspired by President Trump’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, features chefs preparing nutritious, whole-food meals for approximately $5 or less per serving.

But CNN decided to “fact-check” Kennedy by purchasing full containers of nearly every ingredient—even when the recipe required only a spoonful—and then charging the entire package price to one meal.

During Wednesday’s episode of Erin Burnett OutFront, CNN correspondent Tom Foreman recreated the show’s crispy salmon cakes with apple, white bean, and greens salad.

The official HHS recipe serves four people for approximately $5 per serving using frozen wild salmon—and even less when made with canned salmon.

CNN, however, claimed it cost $70.54 to purchase all the ingredients.

Foreman complained that HHS priced one egg rather than an entire carton, eight cents’ worth of red onion rather than the whole onion, and 40 cents’ worth of avocado mayonnaise rather than the full $11 container.

“Grocery stores don’t sell things that way,” Foreman declared.

Of course, the remaining eggs, onion, mayonnaise, olive oil, mustard, vinegar, herbs, and other pantry staples do not disappear after preparing the meal. They remain available for the next recipe.

CNN also disputed HHS’s salmon price, saying the network paid more than $24 for what it described as the closest comparable frozen wild-caught sockeye salmon, compared with the show’s listed price of $8.99.

Although the CNN segment acknowledged that HHS used “standard recipe costing methodology,” the network nevertheless presented its full grocery-store checkout total as the “real” cost of Kennedy’s meal.

Burnett concluded the segment without addressing the obvious distinction between the upfront cost of stocking a kitchen and the actual amount of food consumed in a single recipe.

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Mamdani’s City Grocery Store Official Explains How Their Plan to Keep Privately Owned Stores in Business Will Make Things Even Worse

A woman who is supposedly the lead person from Zohran Mamdani’s team for city-owned grocery stores was recently asked if their plan will put privately owned stores out of business, which, it obviously will.

She explained that privately owned stores that are in trouble will be able to apply for grants from the city, which is only going to make things worse, and far more expensive.

To recap, taxpayers pay for city-owned grocery stores and then, when those stores threaten privately owned stores, taxpayers will fund grants for those stores. The taxpayers just keep paying and paying, no matter what happens.

Townhall reports:

In an interview on Wednesday, Waverly Neer, a senior vice president of the NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), which is overseeing Mamdani’s city-run grocery-store rollout, revealed that one proposal under consideration would let nearby grocers apply for grants to offset revenue lost to the city’s subsidized stores. In other words, New York City may use taxpayer money to undercut local businesses, then use more taxpayer money to compensate them for the damage they caused.

“I think ultimately the goals of these locations, not just here in East Harlem, but you know, any borough location is to be complementary to the neighborhood,” Neer said. “And really, you know, rising tides, right? We can we can all cooperate and work together in a meaningful way. ”

“Do you mind? What is the I’ve heard that that term from EDC officials that these are meant to be complementary. What does that mean?” Spectrum News NY1’s Dan Rivoli asked. “What does that complimentary mean in terms of policy operations and things like that? ”

“Yeah, I think we’re, you know, as an agency, looking at a number of different complementary policies and programs, grants, incentives that can come alongside these grocery stores to support other, you know, local independent businesses that are in the neighborhoods,” Neer replied. “We’re going to continue to listen and we’re going to continue to engage and be, you know, alongside the operator as our partner. Like I said, making sure that we are complimentary to the other businesses that are here in the neighborhood.”

“So other locations, other grocery stores can get grants from the city under this?” Rivoli clarified.

“[That’s] something on the table,” Neer said.

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Food Supply Alert: Ukraine Grain Exports Collapse As Black Sea Attacks Choke Global Shipments

Upward momentum in agricultural prices, as tracked by the Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index, should be ringing inflationary alarm bells. The breakout comes just one week after JPMorgan analyst Nora Szentivanyi warned that the next global food crisis could materialize as early as next year.

Multiple shocks are converging all at once across the global food complex, including continued disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, rising El Niño risks, and adverse weather across the US agricultural belt.

This note focuses on another emerging chokepoint: Europe’s breadbasket, where intensifying attacks in the Russia-Ukraine war have shuttered critical Black Sea grain export terminals.

Reuters reports that global wheat importers are preparing for tighter supplies and higher prices as tit-for-tat attacks on Black Sea ports and bulk carriers continue to disrupt shipments during the region’s peak export season.

Those attacks have shuttered grain terminals and forced shippers to delay or cancel dozens of cargoes. Ukraine reported 35 attacks on vessels in port, 22 at sea, and 67 against port facilities in July, compared with just 14 such incidents during all of 2025.

Asian processors booked between 2 million and 2.5 million tons of Black Sea wheat for delivery from July through September, representing about 30% to 50% of regional import demand, according to Singapore-based traders. Traders are fretting over some grain shipments won’t arrive in time because of the widespread disruptions. 

At the importer level, Egypt and Indonesia are among some of the top countries exposed to Black Sea shipments. Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, sourced more than 82% of its first-half imports from Russia and Ukraine. Indonesia contracted for roughly 600,000 tons from suppliers in the region for delivery in July to September.

One Singapore-based trader who sells Black Sea wheat to millers in Asia told the outlet, “The cargoes were due to start arriving from mid-August, but many ships could not go in to load. Buyers are thinking about replacing some of these cargoes with other origins, such as Australia, North America and Argentina.”

Maxence Devillers, a grain analyst at Argus Media, said buyers facing delayed or entirely canceled shipments from the region “will have to find other solutions by the end of the month.”

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Nation’s biggest bank warns of global food ‘crisis’ in 2027, citing bad weather and wars in Iran, Ukraine

Get ready for another round of sticker shock at your local grocery stores and food markets.

The nation’s largest bank has just put out a chilling report that confirms what I have been warning about since the first week of March: A global food shortage is coming, caused by war and bad weather, leading to widespread famine as we get into 2027.

In a report titled Food Security Is National Security: A Compounding Storm, a team led by London-based senior global economist Nora Szentivanyi warned that disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz and the emergence of a potentially historic El Niño could weaken crop yields, constrain agricultural production, and keep food inflation elevated through the first half of 2027.

While we in America, Canada and Europe can expect to pay higher food prices and may have to cut back elsewhere, other countries will be in worse shape. Think about the migration storm that will cause, as people in the Third World leave their countries and head for wealthier countries that have more food.

“Successive shocks since COVID have compounded, eroding food production capacity and keeping food price pressures elevated into 2027,” Szentivanyi said, warning that “this is not a short-lived shock; it has reduced the likelihood of near-term disinflation, and the food inflation cycle is likely to exert pressure through 1H27.”

JP Morgan Chase’s report on a looming food crisis rocked the internet as people posted on it across social media platforms today.

What this means is that a larger segment of the population is going to wake up and start stocking up. That means prices will go up even faster than they have been, as demand increases, and those prices will rise faster than they would have if the masses hadn’t been suddenly jolted into reality by an establishment institution like JP Morgan Chase and all the press coverage that entails.

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‘Parents Should Not Need a Chemistry Degree’: RFK Jr. Proposes Key Food Policy Reforms

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday unveiled two food policy proposals aimed at increasing safety and transparency in the nation’s food supply.

The agency proposed requiring food manufacturers to notify the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) whenever they determine that an ingredient added to human or animal food is “generally recognized as safe” or GRAS.

Today, companies can make those decisions without telling regulators.

HHS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also submitted the federal government’s first proposed definition of ultraprocessed foods for final review by the FDA — a move officials said could eventually shape nutrition research, food labeling, dietary guidelines and other policies affecting what Americans buy and eat.

Officials did not release the definition or say when it would become public.

Food policy reform advocates called both proposals important first steps. However, they cautioned that the changes would not stop companies from introducing new ingredients or fully address the thousands of additives already in the food supply.

Speaking at a news conference Monday, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the proposals are designed to make it easier for people to understand what is in their food.

“Parents should not need a chemistry degree to understand what their children are eating,” he said. “Americans deserve real transparency. They deserve real food.”

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Mamdani Reverses Policy Requiring Govt. ID to Buy His Food

Communist New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani abruptly reversed his policy of requiring government ID to purchase food in his government-run supermarkets.

Even funnier is that, although we have it all on video, he’s now pretending that was never his policy. Remember, communists will tell any lie necessary to further the agenda. Communists have no ethics other than doing whatever is necessary to bring about the revolution. So, Mamdani is perfectly comfortable lying, knowing he will have the help of corrupt, far-left media outlets like the Associated Press, who publish lying fact checks, like this one, that brazenly and happily lie on his behalf.

Here is what  Jeanny Pak, the Interim President & CEO of NYC Economic Development Corporation, told the world during a Monday press conference with the Mayor standing a few feet away…

Yes, if you look at our RFP [Request for Proposals] for the operator, we are looking to make sure that we target New Yorkers, whether it be [through] a sort of a library card-esque [system], and also, we manage who’s buying and that it’s focused on everyday New Yorkers. So, we are mindful of that, and we’re going to make sure that we have all the things in place to ensure that that does not happen.

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Mamdani: Nah, No IDs at City Grocery Stores — Illegals Welcome to Shop on the Taxpayer Dime

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is now promising that his taxpayer-funded, socialist grocery stores will require zero identification — meaning non-New Yorkers, including illegals and tourists, can stroll right in and load up on discounted food while actual residents foot the bill.

This comes after one of his own officials floated a “library-card-esque” system to make sure only city residents could take advantage of the 30 percent markdowns, sparking immediate outrage.

While critics may portray this as a ‘damned if you do’ trap for Mamdani, it’s not. The criticism yesterday was in the irony of requiring ID, which leftists, in opposition to the vast majority of Americans, believe is racist.

The reality, however, is worse.

“We’re talking about a city-run grocery store, one in each borough, which, by the way, you do not need an ID to shop at, no matter what you’ve just heard in the news of today,” the mayor told Joy Reid.

The implication is clear here. The outrage was a construct of the right. A fiction. And of course, Mediaite helped spread that idiotic narrative, with their angle that Mamdani “laugh(ed) off” the “MAGA uproar.”

The “uproar” was over the hypocrisy. And the concerns were not made up. 

Jeanny Pak, the interim president and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, said: “We are looking to make sure that we target New Yorkers, whether it be a sort of library card-esque thing, and also we manage who’s buying and that it is focused on everyday New Yorkers.”

Pretty clear-cut statement there.

Now that the mayor has pivoted and done a 180, it’s safe to assume they are not, in fact, “focused on everyday New Yorkers.”

Non-New Yorkers, including illegal aliens and out-of-towners, will be able to shop at the taxpayer-funded stores.

“NYC Grocery stores will be open to everyone. There will be no system to verify identity, residency, or income, and no one will be asked to show ID to shop,” a City Hall representative told the New York Post.

Funded on the backs of New Yorkers. But anybody can reap the benefits. This move continues the trend of Mamdani being a weapons-grade economic illiterate. He likes to discuss fairness for all but implements a government program that is inarguably unfair to actual residents of the city.

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What Does Glyphosate Have to Do With Cheap Factory Farm Meat? Plenty.

For years, Bayer and the biotech giant it purchased, Monsanto, have faced allegations that glyphosate, the active ingredient in its popular herbicide Roundup, causes cancer.

The saga has resulted in over 100,000 lawsuits, billions of dollars in settlement funds, a U.S. Supreme Court case and several actions by the Trump administration.

But amidst the flurry of legal activity, few have stopped to ask a fundamental question: Why are we spraying so much glyphosate in the first place?

The answer, in many cases, is animal agriculture. In the U.S., a significant amount of applied glyphosate is used to grow crops to feed farm animals, not humans. While President Donald Trump has defended glyphosate as crucial to maintaining food security, that’s an overly broad characterization.

In truth, glyphosate has largely made meat production cheaper, as fewer weeds lower the cost of feed production for livestock. Some studies have found glyphosate also reduces greenhouse gas emissions from feed crops by enabling no-till agriculture.

In June, the Supreme Court issued a major ruling in favor of Monsanto regarding glyphosate. A Missouri gardener who’d been using Roundup for about two decades developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and sued Monsanto for not including a cancer risk warning label on its Roundup products, arguing that it breaks a state failure-to-warn law.

The lower court ordered the company to pay him over a million dollars in damages, but the Supreme Court overturned that ruling, citing the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

Under FIFRA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has final authority, superseding states, over what pesticide product labels are required to say.

Because the EPA had already ruled that glyphosate isn’t a carcinogen and therefore doesn’t require a cancer warning, the Supreme Court overturned the state court’s determination that Monsanto erred by not including such a warning on Roundup sold in Missouri.

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Mamdani admin. denies that shoppers will need state photo ID or face mandatory door checks to buy food at upcoming city-run grocery stores

A national political firestorm erupted on Monday following viral social media claims that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani would require shoppers to present identification to purchase food at proposed municipal grocery stores, prompting sharp criticism from conservative leaders, left-wing New Yorkers and a subsequent clarification from City Hall.

The controversy stems from comments made during a press conference addressing the Mamdani (D-N.Y.) administration’s new flagship “food affordability program.” Last week, Mamdani announced a $70 million initiative to open five city-owned, publicly subsidized grocery stores — one in each borough — offering a 30% discount on essential kitchen staples like meat, produce, and pantry goods.

During the press conference, which transpired in late July, a reporter asked the mayor, “How are you going to keep people from taking advantage of that deal, basically? And is there going to be a limit on the number of items that someone can take that are discounted at that level from that essential basket?”

“So our RFP (Request for Proposal) makes very clear this is a program for New Yorkers to be able to put food on the table, not a program for people to be able to make a quick buck through reselling,” Mamdani responded.

Jeanny Pak, the CFO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, then floated the idea of a residency verification mechanism, mentioning a potential “library card-esque thing” or looking into state IDs to manage buyer eligibility and target local New Yorkers.

However, following the social media buzz, Mamdani’s office later issued a statement denying that shoppers will need to present a state photo ID or undergo door checks to enter or buy food at the proposed city-owned grocery stores.

Regarding the current official status, the Mamdani administration has not formally enacted a mandatory ID policy. They stated they are “still exploring options” to verify local residence, but no final decision has been made ahead of the planned 2027 opening in the Bronx, New York officials emphasized.

Nonetheless, prior to the clarification, video clips of the exchange circulated rapidly across political circles online, sparking immediate accusations of political hypocrisy. Prominent Republican figures seized on the clip to draw comparisons between food access policies and federal election laws.

Billionaire Elon Musk posted to X calling the situation ironic, while Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) labeled it hypocritical, arguing that advocating for residency verification at city grocery stores while opposing mandatory voter ID bills was inconsistent.

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