Loblaws Canada grocery prices: Shoppers irate at Toronto store cutting off roots of green onions.
A photo of green onions being sold with the roots chopped off at a Toronto Loblaws store is stirring more anger online against the grocery giant.
The photo posted to the Reddit forum Loblaws Is Out Of Control shows bundles of green onions without the roots at the bottom being sold for $1.79 per bunch.
Many in the comments pointed out that cutting the roots off of a green onion impacts how it tastes, as well as how long it stays fresh.
“I wouldn’t buy those, Glittering_Search_41 wrote. “If you cut off the ends they aren’t retaining their flavour.”
“They will also not keep very long with the root removed,” Mralisterh wrote. “Quartered the shelf life of them, you can already see oxidation. They’re going to rot within days.”
Others speculated that the product could have been chopped by the supplier, or by a new employee in the produce department.
The person who posted the photo said it was the second time they’d seen onions being sold with the roots cut off at the Loblaws located along Toronto’s Lakeshore.
“I believe this is more of a concerted effort to not allow us to regrow our purchased produce and to extract maximum profit,” Party_Setting7622 wrote.
A similar photo of rootless green onions being sold has been posted to the forum before, where one user wondered: “Is that to stop us from regrowing them at home?”
If you cut off the ends they aren’t retaining their flavour.
Loblaw did not respond to a request from comment from Yahoo Canada.
Urban farming expert shares easiest greens to grow at home
During the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, green onion became a trendy vegetable to showcase on social media, thanks to how easily they can sprout by putting the roots in a glass of water.
Arlene Hazzan Green, co-founder of the Backyard Urban Farm Company in Toronto, says there are many other vegetables that can be grown at home like a house plant, and without a plot or garden.
“All you need is a pot with holes, some potting mix, a saucer, a watering can, some sun and seedlings,” she says.
Hazzan Green explains there’s two types of plants — cold hardy plants, which can grow in cooler temperatures, and heat loving plants, which need frequent and direct light.
Leafy vegetables like kale, arugula, lettuce, chard and mustard greens and herbs, like basil and mint, fall into the first category and can be grown simply in a flowerpot on a window sill or balcony this time of year.
“You don’t need to wait until May 2-4 weekend, which is what everyone thinks,” she says. “I’ve got seedlings that I got started indoors and now I’m planting them outside.”
Tomatoes can also grow easily in a pot, though they fall under the heat loving plant category and need to grow outside and receive lots of sun.
“They’re great on a balcony,” Hazzan Green says. “And they’re way more tasty when you grow your own.”
When it comes to planting green onions, urban farmer Derek Barber of Homestead Toronto says they can be grown from seed, which is generally done in soil. You can also take the ends of another green onion, which would otherwise go to waste, and place them in water to sprout indoors. An entirely new onion won’t grow but you’ll get the leaves. This trick can be done a few times.
“It’s a great way to reuse vegetable scraps and it’s nice to have an ongoing supply of green onion leaves indoors,” says Barber. “The bottom does slowly decompose so you need to cut the new onions higher up the stem to avoid the soft part and you need to change the water regularly.”
Barber says this sprouting trick can also be done with celery, carrots and radish. Though you’re not getting a complete vegetable from it, the sprouts will produce leaves that make a great garnish and can add some fresh flavour to your meals.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
