Coles and Woolworths hold a huge amount of power over the Australian grocery market. And they often don’t use it for good, instead squeezing suppliers, underpaying workers and manipulating prices.

While these tactics are coming under well-deserved scrutiny, there’s another aspect of the supermarket duopoly’s relentless drive for profit that has received less attention. As Lauren Kate Kelly explains, the pair are also developing “a growing high-tech infrastructure of surveillance and control that pervades retail stores, warehouses, delivery systems and beyond”.

In practice, this means cameras tracking shoppers and staff, automated security gates at the self-checkout, elaborate “crime intelligence” data analysis, and the integration of gig economy apps like Doordash and Uber Eats. Taken together, these measures amount to an alarming transformation of the supermarket business.

Speaking of supermarkets, if you’re thinking about buying plant-based foods, your weekly shop can be a bit bewildering. Fridges are increasingly loaded with plant-based burgers, sausages and mince, as well as non-dairy alternatives to milk, cheese and yoghurt.

But are these any good for you? A recent audit found some are so high in salt or saturated fats, you’d struggle to call them healthy.

Laura Marchese and Katherine Livingstone investigated some 700 different plant-based products on supermarket shelves. Here’s what they found.

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