THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 28, 1995 TAG: 9506270145
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
In all the years Surry resident Gen West has been grocery shopping, no one has ever offered to pay for her food at the register.
Until last Wednesday.
West was in the checkout line at Food Lion when Pat Padgett, southeastern district chairwoman for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, offered to pay for all her food - totaling $55.66. West paid $5.30 for non-food items.
``I was shocked by the offer,'' she said. ``How much I pay for food is just not something I think about. I get what I have to get. But I did all right on food, didn't I?''
The giveaway, a Virginia Farm Bureau and Virginia Farm Bureau Federation campaign called ``Putting Food First,'' is an attempt to educate shoppers on the relatively low cost of American food.
Farm Bureau representatives were at seven locations across the state Wednesday. They were scanning shopping carts and footing the bill for those shoppers who seemed to have a mix of food and non-food items. Padgett said $100 was spent at each Food Lion location, and shoppers were treated until the money ran out.
The giveaway was to show shoppers that food is a bargain, Padgett said, and to illustrate another point:
``Usually, non-food items amount to half of the grocery bill. We actually have the cheapest and best food in the world - and that's what we're trying to show shoppers.''
For example, according to a survey conducted by the American Farm Bureau, a sirloin steak costs $9 in Washington, compared to $26 in Seoul, South Korea. A pound of butter in Washington costs $3.86, compared to $10.67 in Tokyo. Eggs in Washington cost 99 cents a dozen, $3.24 in Stockholm.
Smithfield resident Louise Huff was another lucky customer who got in on the best bargain in town. She walked out with $14.85 in free groceries. She paid $16.85 for non-food.
``A lady came up to me and asked, `How would you like me to pay for your food products today?' I couldn't believe it! I said, `You've got to be kidding. I never win anything.' It was really a treat for me.''
Four shoppers were treated to free food in Smithfield, Padgett said.
Unless people are told or shown how much non-food items cost, they don't realize that edibles actually account for about half the typical total bill, said Betty Crocker, Isle of Wight County women's chairman for the Virginia Farm Bureau.
``I think that only the four Smithfield shoppers we talked to got the idea,'' she said. ``But the old hands at buying groceries knew. Most older ladies remember when only food was sold in grocery stores. You had to go somewhere to buy non-food.''
Eggs are the cheapest protein consumers buy, and meat is the most expensive, Crocker said. And vegetables are seasonally expensive, depending on weather conditions that can drive prices up or down.
Still, she said, consumers on average pay 11 percent of their gross incomes for food.
``And that,'' she said, ``is a bargain.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Betty Crocker, right, and Pat Padgett, southeastern district
chairwoman for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, buy groceries
for a client at Food Lion.
by CNB