“This post is misleading. Products cannot actually be bought at these prices,” commented the X network with its “fact-checker” on the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food’s recent announcement boasting of a cheap basket of basic foods. In the days following the said publication, Slovenians have also often asked where they could buy products at such discounted prices – and they are also demanding that those responsible be held accountable for their misleading statements.
The government has recently published a table showing the prices and the percentage reduction or increase in the prices of the cheapest products in the basic basket of 15 basic food groups by individual traders on the date of the first (the 13th of September 2022) and last (the 19th of December 2023) census.
As could be seen from the grocery table, their “findings” show that the prices of some products have decreased by up to 92.37 percent. For example, you can apparently buy beef and pork legs and chicken breasts for 0.99 cents per kilo in a Eurospin shop. A kilo of bread can reportedly be bought for as little as 0.19 cents in several shops.
Naturally, after the publication of said data, everyone wondered where it was possible to buy these products at such prices, as the prices in Slovenian shops do not match those presented – the ones that led to the public boasting of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food.
Somebody should go to jail for misleading the public in this way
Immediately after the government’s announcement of the “reduced” prices of the food basket, many Slovenian consumers spoke up, some even with receipts from the shops. They were surprised to find that they had been badly misled, and not for the first time.
Some even angrily claimed that the case was ripe for criminal investigation. It should be noted that Minister of Defence, Marjan Šarec, who recently signed a new contract with the commercial television station POP TV for almost 200 thousand euros to promote agriculture through the filming of the reality show Masterchef, is also the “interim minister” for agriculture, forestry and food.
People’s responses online were harsh – and rightfully so. One X user wrote: “Yes, I bought pork bones for a segedin goulash in Hofer today. And yes, it did cost me ‘only’ 1.56 euros for 800 grams. However, there is barely any meat on here! Did you take this into account when preparing the basket? Anything is good enough for the poor, huh? Fuck off!” Another user pointed out that the bribed census taker who worked on the basket of foods should be processed by our justice system. “That is – if we had one,” the user added bitterly. Some people even compared the situation to that in North Korea, saying that the government apparently believes that people in Slovenia are complete morons, while another posted a meme of a group of wealthy men laughing hard, writing on it: “And then we told them a kilo of meat costs only one euro!”
C. Š.
