Atkins Economy - Unintended Consequences
The G has a very insightful piece about how McDonald's going healthy is probably really
bad news for the health-food value chain, since it will standardize, streamline, and exert near-monopsony power, leading ultimately to less variety, innovation, price/quantity competition eroding labor standards, etc - basically, the Wal-Mart effect. Killer piece, highly recommended, esp for techies:
"...Hermann Thoenissen describes his perfect apple with the tenderness he might use to describe an ideal lover. "It has to be crisp," says the area director of apple orchards for AgriNorthwest. "It should be bi-coloured. Red striped with a yellow background or yellow with a bit of pink. It has to be juicy. I want it sweet, and just under three inches."
The cameo apple comes close to his notion of perfection. He thinks it's no surprise that McDonald's would pluck cameos from its many rivals as an ideal fruit. "It keeps its crispness for a long time if it's kept in the right atmosphere, and it doesn't turn brown easily."
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the food biz:
"...The Coca-Cola Co. said Monday it will launch a no-calorie version of its trademark soft drink called Coca-Cola Zero in the United States in June.
The drink will be sweetened partly with a blend of aspartame and acesulfame potassium."
I can hardly wait.