THIS week along with the rest of the country I discovered that Branston Pickle has been sold to Japan.

Apparently the famous brand has been bought by the Japanese firm Mizkan.

The £92.5 million deal includes the Suffolk factory where the famous chutney is produced and its 356-workforce.

Branston has been made in Britain for 90 years, but it’s not the first Great British product to find itself in foreign hands.

Sarson’s Vinegar, Weetabix and Cadbury have all gone the same way.

Named after a village in Staffordshire, there is something quintessentially British about pickle – think cheese sandwiches and Ploughman’s lunches – and it always seems so sad when established British firms are sold abroad.

The truth, of course, is that I, not unlike the rest of the country, find this sad but do very little about it.

I cannot claim to vehemently ‘buy British’, although I agree whole-heartedly with the principle.

The truth is that supermarket shopping nowadays already requires the mathematical genius of Charles Babbage if you are to avoid paying over the odds.

Standing on aching feet in the aisle of a supermarket at five past seven after a long day at work is not perhaps the best time to test my mental arithmetic, but that doesn’t stop Mr Supermarket trying to sell me six Muller corners for £2.20 or 12 for a bargain fiver.

To be honest I quite enjoy searching out a bargain, and I definitely enjoy out-witting Mr Supermarket, but it takes time and a certain amount of mental energy.

Then there is the nutrition labels which require more than a savvy eye if you are to avoid copious amounts of sugar, salt or fat, or just want to eat something honest and healthy or which hasn’t been reared in its own excrement.

And don’t even get me started on the checkout stage – rifling through dozens of vouchers to get your 3p off a tin of beans while juggling my bags for life.

By now it’s gone 7.30pm and my feet are aching more and I’m yet to get home, unpack my bags for life and cook my bargain tea.

And so you see the truth is however sad I find the loss of Branston, or Weetabix or Cadbury, I won’t stop eating pickle or Dairy Milk.