The food revolution has massively increased output - but at what cost, wonders Tim Lang


Last week I was in Dublin for a huge international gathering of environmental epidemiologists. These unsung heroes and heroines of public health protection monitor how environmental pollutants get into us via food, water, air. They study how humans absorb the environment. Literally. Bodies are remarkable, finely tuned biological entities. They can survive a certain amount of danger. Sorting marginal from real risks is what environmental epidemiologists do.

This year's conference had food as its key theme. The sessions I attended gave a mixed picture. There were some real concerns in countries with poor regulations and infrastructure: industries polluting and literally dumping their dirt into neighbouring populations; contaminants in soil getting into bloodstreams. Using complicated science and highly sophisticated measurement, judgments can be made about risks to health.

One particularly arresting paper by a senior food safety specialist detailed what happened in the recent Irish pork recall. This symbolised many of the risks facing supposedly efficient food industries. Pigs from just 10 large farms were found to have been fed on contaminated feed. Thousands of products were recalled costing the Irish taxpayer 200m. The surveillance system worked safety standards kicked in, the authorities acted quickly. But products were destroyed in more than 50 countries.

The bad news is that inevitably much good food was wasted. The complexity of modern food systems meant damage was extensive. Confidence in Irish food was seriously dented. All from contaminated feed from one source.

The most interesting thing to emerge was the general recognition that there are real difficulties in trying to understand the modern interface of environment and health in food systems. The food revolution of the past 60 years has delivered an unprecedented rise in output. But this has come at a cost. The environment has literally been mined.

Food policy analysts at the conference were thinking hard about how the food system might change towards more sustainable systems of production while delivering advances in health so far mostly exhibited in the rich world. It's the developing world that needs most help. Some of the contamination stories there were really scary. They don't make the headlines here.


Tim Lang is professor of food policy at City University.