Saturday evening, September 21, 2002 First Congregational Church, Oakland California.

‘Beyond Fast Food’ an evening with Eric Schlosser sponsored by Global Exchange and Mother Jones magazine.

When Eric Schlosser was asked by an audience member if there was some kind of test kit or tool that could be used to determine if meat brought home from the supermarket was free of E. coli 0157:H7: and salmonella and a number of other food borne pathogens that are either not being or not effectively being tested for by the USDA, he paused and then replied, “A coin to toss?”

The audience in the packed auditorium broke into laughter. It was, sadly, comic relief at the end of an evening where Mr. Schlosser documented in no uncertain terms the shameful, irresponsible, dare-we-say-for-fear-of-being-sued immoral behavior of the American meatpacking industry.

The failings and misdeeds of the meatpacking industry are well-documented in Mr. Schlosser’s first book, Fast Food Nation. What started as a two-part article for Rolling Stone and turned surprisingly into a bestseller, Fast Food Nation is a must read for anyone who buys meat at the supermarket or eats at large corporate fast food chain restaurants and everyone who doesn’t--for the unchecked power wielded by a few corporations impacts us all in ways most of us never knew or imagined.

Other related readings by Mr. Schlosser:

“Bad Meat: The Scandal of Our Food” The Nation September 16, 2002

“The Most Dangerous Job in America” Mother Jones July/August 2001

Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Edited by Andrew Kimbrell

“We eat our daily bread without being conscious of the massive loss of topsoil, diversity, and farm communities involved in its production.” Andrew Kimbrell from the introduction of Fatal Harvest.

Though the title of the book, Fatal Harvest, is a bit of a downer, it is sure to get most people to at least open it up. When I first picked up the book I happened to open it to page 76-77, entitled “Corn.” It is a beautiful spread. On the left-hand page is a photograph of kernels of forty-six different varieties of corn, all laid out in tidy rows. The colorful kernels literally dance off the page. On the right is a photo of a handful of yellow kernels of Starlink^TM corn. Underneath is the caption, “Varieties lost from 1903 to 1983: field corn 90.8 percent; sweet corn, 96.1 percent.” Wow. So much for the gene pool.

Proponents of the modern agribusiness paradigm advocate that monocropping and fertilizers and pesticides and growth hormones and genetic engineering are necessary to feed the world efficiently and cheaply. But is industrial agriculture really efficient? And cheap? Can it really feed the world? How can we explain world hunger when there is substantial evidence that there is now more food available per person than ever before?

Find out in Fatal Harvest. In addition to dispelling what the editors have dubbed “the seven deadly myths of industrial agricultural,” the book contains many thoughtful essays that illuminate the many points made by the editors. Essayists include Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson. I particularly enjoyed the essay entitled “Artificial Fertility” by Jason McKenney. It’s a deeper look into the biology of soil fecundity. And there are a lot of telling photographs. If you can get beyond the title you’re sure to get into the book.

Warning: The book is big. About 1 foot by 1 foot and weighs maybe 4 or 5 pounds. For bedtime reading you may be more interested in the Fatal Harvest Reader, a handy paperback, which begins with the seven deadly myths of industrial agriculture and includes a large selection of the essays from the original. There are no photographs regrettably. Fatal Harvest and the Fatal Harvest Reader are published by Island Press.

"Power Steer" by Michael Pollan , New York Times Magazine, cover story, March 31, 2002

Author Michael Pollan buys an 8-month-old calf in order to chronicle just what is behind today’s industrial American steak. Find out what he found out. You can also click here to listen to NPR’s Fresh Air host Terry Gross interview Mr. Pollan regarding the experience.

The European Commission's revised GMO deliberate release directive enters into force in October 2002. Just what will be released, and where, is being hotly debated in Europe right now.

Seeds of Doubt, a detailed report from Britain’s esteemed Soil Association, assesses the performance of genetically modified food. An excerpt from the "Seeds of Doubt Executive Summary Briefing Paper" notes that "the claims of increased yields have not been realised overall except for a small increase in Bt maize yields. Moreover the main GM variety (Roundup Ready soya) yields 6 to 11 per cent less than non-GM varieties. GM herbicide tolerant crops have made farmers more reliant on herbicides and new weed problems have emerged. Farmers are applying herbicides several times; contrary to the claim that only one application would be needed. Rogue GM oilseed rape plants ('volunteers') have become a widespread problem in Canada." Hmmmm.