Max Satanove remembered for checking Edmonton food prices
Last Updated: Thursday, February 12, 2009 | 11:01 AM ET
CBC News
Max Satanove, who for 18 years did a weekly check of grocery prices in major food stores in Edmonton, died Jan. 27. He was 92.
Satanove's list, a compendium of 42 items, was published weekly in Edmonton papers from 1988 until 2006. The Consumers' Association credits his survey with keeping prices in the city among the lowest in the country.
"Bravo to Mr. Satanove for taking the time and initiative to collect and collate this information — he really was a grassroots consumer advocate. He will be missed," the Edmonton food blog foodie suz said.
Satanove knew he was helping consumers.
" 'The consumer benefits.' He'd say it almost every week when he would come in," said Maurice Tougas, editor of the Edmonton Examiner during the 13 years that it published Satanove's Food Basket.
When the paper omitted the column, "We would get a call right away, people saying, 'You haven't dropped Max have you?' because people thought, well, the grocery stores must be putting pressure on you," Tougas said.
Had his own store
Every week Satanove made the rounds, comparing prices at the major food outlets.
He had been in the grocery business, but sold his small store when he hit 60. Some years later, he decided to start checking grocery prices.
"One day, I came out of a superstore and I said to myself, 'Why can't I do a list of items like the paper does for interest on money or, you know, bonds and things like that?' " he told the CBC in 1995.
The Alberta government recognized his contribution in 2006, when the Government Services Department gave him the first Minister's Consumer Champion Award for his contribution to consumer awareness about food prices.
The Edmonton Sun reported that the Examiner will keep Satanove's legacy alive by starting a new weekly grocery comparison list in March.
