Corruption in the Food Industry

[emmalish]

Not sure which forum was appropriate for this story from the NYT.

From the article:

Robert Watson, a top ingredient buyer for Kraft Foods, needed $20,000 to pay his taxes. So he called a broker for a California tomato processor that for years had been paying him bribes to get its products into Kraft’s plants.

...prosecutors say that for years, SK Foods shipped its customers millions of pounds of bulk tomato paste and puree that fell short of basic quality standards — with falsified documentation to mask the problems. Often that meant mold counts so high the sale should have been prohibited under federal law; at other times it involved breaching specifications in the sales contracts, such as acidity levels or the age of the product.

[Edward J]

Meh.....nothing new.

That kind of stuff has been going on for as long as man has been buying or bartering food. Spices cut with dirt, brick dust in cocoa and saffron, coffee adultarated, gawd knows what in the booze, water mixed into butter, etc.

[pen_h]

Meh.....nothing new.

The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair in 1905, was about the plight of the working class and also brought to light corruption in the meatpacking industry. Most readers ignored the plight stuff and concentrated on the corruption - as Sinclair said, "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." Foreign sales of American meat fell by one half, and US sales of prepacked meat also fell by one half. Let's say that it wasn't the cleanest, healthiest meat that was ending up in cans.

[Darienne]

Reading this fascinating book: The Fruit Hunter: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Passion, Adam Leith Gollner, 2008.

Lots of information about wondrous exotic fruits and Gollner's adventures finding them around the world...but also information about the incredible and sickening corruption in the commercial fruit industry.

[jk1002]

I'd say pick your store and product carefully. I worked a tiny bit in my life in the food industry (Freshdirect) and since then I watch out very carefully who is behind the counter. Many of the buyers I met are very proud of what they are doing, they would not knowingly feed you crap. For me larger chains besides Wholefoods are an exception when I shop, in fact I walked into a Wallmart in 2009 and I swear I could not recall when and if ever I was in one.

[skipper10]

Until recently I have totally shared your opinion about Walmart. I've never shopped there and I am now taking "watch and see" attitude.

Bbbbbut, the Atlantic (March issue) has an article suggesting that Walmart, not Whole Foods, will save the small farm and make America healthy.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/03/the-great-grocery-smackdown/7904/

Skipper

[Peter Green]

I am tempted (and so, as temptation is the basis of corruption) to pitch in with "What! Gambling in Casablanca!"