Consumers might benefit if mass retailer accumulates liability when it does this but the mass retailer shoves it right on to the party with the razor thin margins.
Keeping prices high doesn't protect against that - a counterfeiter will happily sell at a high price, and a traditional supplier might cut quality in theory supply chain to increase profit.
The only solution is to have vendor and supply chain transparency (buying local, and supply chain offering video monitoring of their operations, maybe some Blockchain for tracking shipments end-to-end?), and to be willing to pay for the monitoring and for the quality you ask for. But at the end of the day must consumers talk a good game and then would buy whatever is cheapest or slickest marketed regardlesss of inherent quality or externalities, so it's more efficient to skip the charade.
Totally agree. Talk to your local CSA farmer if you want to hear about the difference between what people say they want and what they actually spend money on.
If other people would prefer to buy dirt-cheap jerky from whoever can offer the lowest price this week, I don't see why it's bad to have stores catering to them too.
The quality at Whole Foods has gone down fast since Amazon took over.
And that's assuming product quality is really lower. The only evidence of that I've seen is anecdata.
Then find a brand or local business that makes what you want. You'll pay out the nose online probably, but I've found a modestly priced local place that makes great jerky because as you said the store stuff is...not great, and questionable.