Food Wars

If you only read one book on the food system, environment and health, this has to be it. I reviewed the first edition in 2004, and this updated version came out in 2015, but has lost none of its relevance and impact. The subtitle - the global battle for mouths, minds and markets - gives a good indication of the content - as politicians try to formulate policy in view of multiple pressures and changing patterns of health. The key theme is the importance of integrating human and environmental health, a position taken by the pioneering organic agriculturalist Sir Albert Howard in his linking the health of the soil with that of plants, animals and humans. More specifically, the crucial elements are relationships between health, business, consumer culture, society, the environment and food governance. The Food Wars thesis arises from competition to succeed what the authors called the productionist paradigm where the emphasis has been on raising output and a large-scale industrial approach. The two approaches vying to succeed this are what they call the Life Sciences Integrated Paradigm (biotechnology) and the Ecologically Integrated Paradigm (bioecology), both of which are described in detail. The scientific and industrial mainstream is firmly behind the first paradigm and investment in this field is orders of magnitude greater than in the organic approach. The authors rightly identify a fundamentally divergent worldview between these two.

There are detailed chapters on the relationship between diet, health and disease, for instance in terms of trends in obesity, coronary heart disease, cancer and diabetes. For the first time in human history, 1.4 billion overweight and obese exceed the number of malnourished at 0.9 billion, with obvious implications for public health. Then there is the relationship between food, environment and sustainability with implications for the impact of food systems on ecosystems - here the contrast is between an extractive and nurturing approach at a time of rising environmental stakes. The next chapter looks at policy responses to food's role in human and environmental health where an emerging concept is sustainable diets from sustainable food supply chains; there has been a tendency espouse a hands-off approach as promulgated by neoliberalism and largely suited to industry interests.

The authors then analyse the Food Wars business characterised by global consolidation, intense competition and an increasing need to engage with health and the environment. In this context, it is interesting to note that 50% of the world's cultivated food is still produced by 1.5 billion peasants working on 380 million farms, with 30% coming from the industrial food chain and the rest consisting of 7.5% produced by city dwelling peasants and 12.5% from hunter gathering. A highly revealing insight is the proportion of subsidy beneficiaries kept secret by governments (94% in the UK), and it is astonishing to read that Tate & Lyle is at the top of the EU subsidy list. There is surely an overwhelming case for transparency here. Looking to the future, the authors list their priorities as well as the new agenda for food policy, all of which should be required reading at government level. For the general reader, there can also be no better handbook on the food system.