Is the quality of food getting poorer?

We have a local Tesco Express (which is just across the road) and a big Tesco just a short walk/bus ride/car journey away. I use the Tesco Express more often than not because it's handy but I have noticed that the quality of food (quite apart from the range available) is not as good as I can get at the main supermarket and is a penny or so more expensive. If I go to the bigger Tesco, I can get better quality food a good deal cheaper (a penny or two on each item soon adds up). I think that Tesco and Asda, in particular, compete for the cheapest prices and that, very often, to achieve that, they will reduce the overall quality, especially of tinned goods and ready meals. I hope that everyone knows by now that the cheapest chicken is pumped full of growth hormones when alive, never sees the light of day and doesn't know what scratching for food means. After it's been killed, it is pumped full of water ("the customers like a nice, plump fresh-looking chicken") and sold at less than half the price per kilo that an organically reared chicken is. I know that some people feel that they have no option but to buy tinned meals and ready meals because you can have a 'meal in minutes' but the additives and preservatives (not to mention the quality of the ingredients) that go into these things are appalling and the goods themselves are far more expensive than if you prepared the exact same thing yourself. You certainly pay for packaging and for 'convenience'. The sad thing is that, if you have a freezer, you could certainly save money and eat much better by just spending a little more time in cooking from basics. The price you pay for your food includes the cost of packaging it, delivering it to the store and for the wastage - no end of good food is simply sent to landfill because it is beyond its sell-by date though sometimes you can pick up good bargains by visiting the 'reduced' shelves first.