Watching over the food we eat, a Tom Fox interview

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Watching over the food we eat, a Tom Fox interview

Tom Fox interviews Patty Lovera, the assistant director of Food & Water Watch, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that works with local organization around the world to stop the corporate control of our food and water systems. It is dedicated to creating an economically and environmentally viable future

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Episode 1: Everything is getting bigger (23 min.)

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     "In general our food supply is safe, but there is a lot more that could be done [for consumer safety and health]," Patty Lovera tells Tom Fox. One worrying trend, she says, "is that everything is getting bigger and more concentrated. That’s true in almost every sector of agriculture." Concentration means few players controlling the market and gaining political power. For example, just four companies produce 80 percent of the beef that Americans eat today.
     "And it’s the small guys who are leaving the market," she said. "A more local product that may be somehow different or a regional speciality or [a business] just owned by someone you know are leaving the market."
     Lovera advocates two sets of action: First, consumer advocacy -- "vote with your dollars." Ask yourself, Lovera says, "Where do you want to buy your food?" and "look at labels and think about which company is producing what you want to buy." Secondly, she says, we can’t leave it all up to the market. We need inspection and safety rules, and "these rules have not been strong enough," she said.

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Episode 2: No problems are local anymore (25 min.)

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     What does e-coli in our spinach tell us about our food systems? Tom Fox asks Patty Lovera. "It was unfortunate, but fascinating to watch," she said. A local problem – a water quality problem in one county in California – is making people all over the country sick. "Local problems quickly become national problems when you grow so much of one crop in one place. ... We should all take a step back and think about that because that is different than it used to be."
     A good result of this episode, Lovera said, is that "it began a good conversation about our food system." This is a perfect time for this conversation, she continues, because 2007 is the year of Congress works on the Farm Bill, which probably could better be called the Food Bill because it also covers food safety and environmental impact issues.

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About the Food & Water Podcasts
"It’s said that we are what we eat. A good reason, then for examining the quality of the food we are consuming," Tom Fox says introducing his new set of podcasts on NCRcafe.org. "I will be examining who controls food and water systems, who regulates them and how they are serving or failing to serve consumers."