Food nourishes the body and the spirit. It is an important focal point for human activities--from family dinners to religious celebrations. Food reflects culture — the way it’s grown, processed, marketed, purchased and prepared helps define a society.

Today, we are in a worldwide struggle over who controls how our food is produced and distributed. Over the past 100 years, food production has changed dramatically. Food is no longer just a sustainer of life — it is a profit center for large multinational corporations. Family farms in the United States are facing bankruptcy and foreclosure, and are being replaced by large corporate enterprises.

Food production has become a global business. As a result of international trade agreements and the policies of international finance institutions, peasant farmers are being driven off their land into urban slums — replaced by agribusinesses growing for the export market.

Consumers lose too. The food in grocery stores is likely to have been produced using practices that damage the environment and threaten public health. It will have traveled thousands of miles, diminishing its nutritional value and in some cases increasing the odds that it is contaminated with bacteria.

Your Chicken Sandwich Could be Contaminated with Salmonella

The bacteria Salmonella is the leading cause of food–borne illness in the U.S. with nearly a million cases of salmonellosis attributed annually to meat and poultry consumption. Find out how the USDA fails to protect consumers from Salmonella contamination of broiler chickens in our updated analysis, More Foul Fowl. Read the 2006 report, Foul Fowl here.

Does That Meat Look Fresh to You?

Your next hamburger could be bad for your health because carbon monoxide made it appear to be fresher than it is. Despite the potential risks, FDA approved the use of carbon monoxide in modified atmosphere packaging as “Generally Recognized as Safe”. Learn more about this deceptive and dangerous practice in Carbon Monoxide: Masking the Truth About Meat?

The Trouble With Smithfield

Smithfield Foods is the biggest hog producer and processor in the United States and world–wide. Its continuous consolidation hurts farmers and consumers, and its factory farms put the environment, public health, and animal welfare at risk. Learn more in our report, The Trouble With Smithfield: A Corporate Profile.

Did You Realize That American Farmers Are Being Harmed by Free Trade Policies?

What happens to a nation's farmers when the amount of imported food doubles within 10 years? In the United States, the value of agricultural products coming from overseas soared from $30 billion in 1995 to $60 billion last year. Crops in Crisis features American farmers who have been harmed by government trade policies that allow these low-cost imports to enter the country.