panic on a plate

In his new book about mass-produced foodstuffs, Michael Moss dresses up a rancid view of firms and consumers as investigative journalism.

The top story in the UK media this morning is the claim that processed meat is killing us. This is the latest example of the British media churning out food scares like they were cheap sausages.

The UK’s medical royal colleges have come up with a 10-point plan to tackle obesity. But their prescriptions are authoritarian, misguided or useless. In response, here’s a 10-point plan to get rid of meddling medics.

The horsemeat scandal in Europe has led many of the usual suspects to question the wisdom of cheap food and/or our ‘industrialised food system’. In reality, our food isn’t cheap enough and the food system isn’t industrialised enough.

No one has died, or been harmed, and the risks of harm are very low. So why freak out about horsemeat?

I took part in a studio debate for Channel 4 News. Watch it here.

Bad jokes aside, the scandal about horse meat in burgers should not be used to smear the entire food industry.

The anger at Tesco’s shareholding in a trendy coffee chain, Harris + Hoole, is snobbish, small-minded and ignorant.

The London Evening Standard‘s Dan Jones - or is that Polly Filler - does a great job today of dragging out every prejudice about obesity in the book. So, for his benefit, here’s a bit of balance on the issue.

Canadian medic Yoni Freedhoff claims on YouTube that Big Food is killing us. Such claims need to be taken with a huge pinch of salt.