"the supermarkets do not come close to bringing the consumer real food with real taste...supermarkets have got a grip on the quality food market and are driving down standards"

Ann Wilson, a speciality food consultant, speaks from her stand at the Food Lovers' fair in Covent Garden, London. She is serving slow-cooked organic beef stew to a queue of tasters.

The fair brings together the UK's finest food producers to show the public what good food is about.

Producers: quality farming philosophy

These producers are passionate about their quality farming philosophy. When a supermarket approaches them, they often fail to strike a deal.

Some do not work with supermarkets on moral grounds. To supermarkets, quality equates to food hygiene and traceability. To these producers food quality means so much more.

Others are open to offers from supermarkets, but either do not operate on a large enough scale, or turn them down when they start to negotiate a price.

Supermarkets driving down price

A fine liqueur producer from Anglesey, North Wales explains, "It is not worth our while to work with supermarkets. They want us to supply our Gin at £2 per bottle for their premium range - we can sell our stock for £10 per bottle through our own efforts."

Eventually, I find a British producer - Island Seafare, a quality seafood supplier based on the Isle of Man - who is happy to supply a supermarket's premium brand…but it turns out to be the French supermarket, Carrefour.

Stranglehold on consumers

Many of the producers believe that the supermarket premium ranges confuse shape with quality. At Godminster, an organic dairy farm, Richard Hollingbery is sceptical about the supermarket tactics.

He believes an image of quality is proving to be a fast way to wallets of the consumers."The supermarkets have a stranglehold on the consumers", he complains.

"The supermarkets use clever marketing ploys that neatly package the quality food concept, while conveying some sort of social responsibility".

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