Not On The Label

Once upon a time food was grown.  Today, it's manufactured.  It used to nourish, now it makes us ill.  Diabetes rates skyrocket, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and food allergies are not far behind. 

Knowledgeable food producers, identifiable by name, are long gone.  Instead, we have nameless, underpaid and overworked till operators whose skills have been reduced to minimum by economic realities. 

Supermarkets are taking over our food supply.  That's not good news if you happen to enjoy food that actually tastes of something.  Multiples tend to sacrifice qualities such as freshness, wholesomeness and yes, taste, on the twin altars of efficiency and profit. 

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Not On The Label had been written long before the recent horsemeat outrage hit headlines but what Lawrence discloses about meat processing is no less scandalous.  While adding horse to other meats is (as far as we know) a relatively new trick, beef and pork DNA have been finding their way into poultry for years.  That's not the end of chilling news.  If Lawrence is to be believed, it is possible to slice foreign DNA so thoroughly that adulterants escape detection.  One only hopes that horsemeat is the worst that can happen... 

Even assuming that no other creatures are being injected into your drumsticks, mass chicken processing is no fun.  I seriously lost appetite reading Lawrence's descriptions, and that's only the first chapter of the book. 

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Marketing people like us to imagine food growers as hard-working, honest and happy individuals.  The Smiling Farmer photos can be found in pretty much every supermarket.  My oh my, if this nice guy on such a nice farm is producing my food, surely it must be of the very highest quality? 

Well, Felicity Lawrence paints quite a different picture.  Hers is full of exploited migrant workers, terrorised suppliers and damaged environment.  The Smiling Farmer is, in fact, crying and going out of business, while the food is flown in from Africa or other places where workers can be legally paid a pittance. 

Due to the nature of today's food industry, customers can no longer identify actual producers of their daily bread.  Have you noticed?  Some food labels have even lost 'produced by' information, substituting them with 'produced for'.  I don't really need to be specifically told that jam I'm buying in (e.g.) Tesco was produced for Tesco.  I'd much rather have some verifiable details on who grew the strawberries. 

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Pesticide residues.  After reading the book I pledged to be twice as enthusiastic in washing fruit and veg.  Apples don't get perfect by themselves... 

Food additives.  Technically, only safe substances are supposed to be added to foodstuffs.  But technically, beef is not supposed to be full of horse DNA either.  It appears that the regulatory bodies are somewhat slack in the execution of their duty and producers don't deserve our trust. 

Environmental damage.  Land destroyed by unsustainable industrial farming.  Countless air miles translating into carbon emissions.  Have you checked how far your recent meal travelled?  Possibly further than you ever will... 

Tasteless food.  I grew up on fruit and veg straight from a gardening allotment.  My goodness, don't they taste different than shop bought stuff!  It's probably something to do with the fact that I never picked my strawberries green to extend their shelf life... 

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Felicity Lawrence provides a whole spectrum of ideas here, ranging from political to grassroot.  

The easiest (and most realistic) thing each of us can do is simple:  let's vote with our trolleys.  If money is the only language understood today, let's take the cash away from people who destroy our food culture.  

Personally, I avoid supermarkets as much as I can, buying in smaller shops instead.  I cook from scratch, saving money and avoiding nasty chemicals at the same time.  I try to stick to local, seasonal products.  Not always, I'll grant you that, but as often as I can manage.  My efforts are limited by ridiculosly low budget, but even on little money I'm able to make the ethical choice most of the time.  

Not On The Label contains many more ideas, plus enough passion to inspire lifestyle changes.

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