Biofuels Are Endangering Gummy Bears, Seriously
Here’s the latest from the desk of the biofuels will threaten our food reports. German newspaper Spiegel Online is lamenting that “Germany’s beloved gummy bears,” are falling victim to rising prices as a result of biofuels. Poor lil buddies.
The article says prices of one of the main ingredients of gummy bears, glucose, rose by 30 percent in 2006. Gummy bear-maker Haribo is so concerned it is part of the “Netzwerk Lebensmittel-Forum” (“Food Forum Network”), which focuses on the dangers of the food vs biofuel debate.
The German company isn’t the only one worried about a food sticker shock. Companies have been concerned about the price of corn, popcorn, torillas, even beer. And last week the International Food Policy Research Institute said that inefficient production of biofuels could raise food prices by 80%.
This is a great topic. For one thing it shows the power of how markets operate.
For a similiar take on tortillas:
http://www.cleantechblog.com/2007/01/ethanol-nafta-tortillas-and-walmart.html
Biofuels aren’t one of the best ideas for alternative fuels because of the fact that they are made from chemicals often used in other products which include food. Is the tradeoff really worth it between food and fuel?
Interesting…
To be honest, we’re in the year 2007, and I find it strange that we still function on so much fuel and raw material. By now, I would have expected the world to have moved on. But, due to market and monopoly reasons, we have to live way behind our time so that people can keep their power over industry. This really has to change. Mind you, I don’t really mind if the price of sweets go up, but if the price of normal food goes up then we obviously have a problem… and one we could have probably fixed already.
Now this must be the reason why I can’t find any gummy bears in local stores here in our place. Have you heard news about a study done by a Japanese researcher? It says that gummy bears can be used to create fake finger prints. With this study, another importance of gummy bears is noted which might cause another increase in its price.