Store Attacked for Selling Cheap Chocolate

By Joanne Camas, Epicurious.com

British supermarket chain Tesco came under attack for slashing the price of chocolate and candy bars the other day. The National Obesity Forum slammed the company, saying it was irresponsible to sell half-price candy when there was such an obesity crisis in the country, reports the Globe and Mail.

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The story raises a number of interesting questions. Do stores bear some responsibility for what they sell? Should they? Or is this just another manifestation of the invasive reach of the "nanny state"?

I've spent a lot of time in West Virginia, visiting towns that have suffered flood damage and don't have a safe public drinking water supply. We've seen soda on sale for so much less than the bottled drinking water that the local people have to buy. It hardly encourages smart shopping choices. Isn't there something wrong with that picture?

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What do you think? Should stores and manufacturers be more concerned with the health and well-being of their customers? Or is business just business?

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