First it was bread, then milk and medication, and now another plate has been served to the Competition Tribunal's table: poultry. It seems Astral Operations hasn't been playing fair with its 'down-the-food-chain' partner Country Bird, with Elite Breeding Farms coming under fire as the go-between for the two companies... Astral has been accused of 'exclusionary conduct' for stopping smaller companies from entering or expanding into the breeder market, among other things. I don't think I need to explain how this impacts on the end consumer, or how it just adds to the growing food crisis... Astral, however, is claiming its innocence. However, looking back at the bigger picture and the companies involved, I wasn't the least bit surprised to find Astral Foods (owner of Astral Ops) once belonged to Tiger Brands, before its unbundling in October 2000. And considering the bread companies have been robbing us of our hard-earned dough for around 12 years now, it makes me question the emerging pattern here... Exactly how long has this been going on? Meanwhile, back on the plattelands, supermarkets are reporting a rise in shoplifting... The target: everyday necessities such as food. So although the Tribunal has been issuing what I feel is a poultry... er, paltry fine of a mere 10% turnover for a single year to these conspirators, the only change in cost the public has seen is that it keeps going up. So, I don't exactly blame these poor folk who've been driven to stealing basic foodstuffs just to have a little something to offer their kids in the evenings. These big companies have been robbing us for years - surely its time for a little payback? But let's leave the grocers out of this... How about we just commandeer the keys to the suppliers' warehouses, throw open the doors and say "Help yourself!". Ah, don't you just love the smell of freshly baked schadenfreude in the morning? Happy Monday folks!

Shan Radcliffe, Retail editor Image courtesy of Rhett Redelings