Poverty puts polony on the table
But there are better sources of affordable protein available
On Bryanston Drive, in Sandton, sits Jackon's Real Food Market, which offers upper-income consumers a "one-stop nutrient- dense food shop", packed with stone-ground sourdough breads, locally sourced organically grown fruit and vegetables and hormone- free grass-fed meat cuts. But for most South Africans, quality food is completely out of reach, and in many homes products such as polony are a cheap substitute for fresh meat. Gary Jackson, the founder of Jackson's, said this week that while polony was filling, "the actual protein content isn't as high as people imagine. The number of toxins and chemicals is high. "So people who are conscious of what they eat don't go that route."Jackson said that as an alternative to polony, offal tended to be cheaper, with a 300g pack of chicken gizzards costing as little as R12. "Our population should be eating it, but instead it's being minced up and used as animal feed, but that meat is low-priced and you get yourself a nice portion of protein." B...
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