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Matens pris: boken som matindustrin inte vill att du ska läsa
Vet du vad du äter?
Vill du veta vad du äter?
Eller vill du bara att maten ska vara billig?
För det är den. Superbillig. Aldrig förr har vi lagt så lite av våra pengar på mat. Bra, tycker vi förstås när vi står i matbutiken. Men baksidan är en utveckling som är på väg att få världens livsmedelsförsörjning att kollapsa.
Prispressen har förvandlat bondgårdar till resultatenheter i en multinationell industri, helt beroende av olja och naturgas. Ensidig odling innebär tung påfrestning på miljön. På åkrarna används bekämpningsmedel så giftiga att de varje år dödar en kvarts miljon människor. Djur avlas så hårt att de går sönder.
De prisbelönta Sveriges Radio-reportrarna Malin Olofsson och Daniel Öhman har rest jorden runt i jakt på den billiga matens verkliga kostnader. Genom unika rapporter från holländska växthus, danska grisgårdar, brasilianska betesmarker, vietnamesiska fiskdammar och skånska kalkonfarmer berättar de sanningen om svenskarnas nya favoritvaror.
Men det finns vägar tillbaka till en sund matproduktion. "Matens pris" pekar ut riktningen och hjälper dig som konsument att göra bättre val med tips på bra och billiga varor.
Vill du veta vad du äter?
Eller vill du bara att maten ska vara billig?
För det är den. Superbillig. Aldrig förr har vi lagt så lite av våra pengar på mat. Bra, tycker vi förstås när vi står i matbutiken. Men baksidan är en utveckling som är på väg att få världens livsmedelsförsörjning att kollapsa.
Prispressen har förvandlat bondgårdar till resultatenheter i en multinationell industri, helt beroende av olja och naturgas. Ensidig odling innebär tung påfrestning på miljön. På åkrarna används bekämpningsmedel så giftiga att de varje år dödar en kvarts miljon människor. Djur avlas så hårt att de går sönder.
De prisbelönta Sveriges Radio-reportrarna Malin Olofsson och Daniel Öhman har rest jorden runt i jakt på den billiga matens verkliga kostnader. Genom unika rapporter från holländska växthus, danska grisgårdar, brasilianska betesmarker, vietnamesiska fiskdammar och skånska kalkonfarmer berättar de sanningen om svenskarnas nya favoritvaror.
Men det finns vägar tillbaka till en sund matproduktion. "Matens pris" pekar ut riktningen och hjälper dig som konsument att göra bättre val med tips på bra och billiga varor.
- GenresNonfictionJournalism
275 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2011
5 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 20, 2014
Two Swedish journalists have travelled to Vietnam, Brasil, Holland, Denmark, the US and Great Britain in the pursuit of knowledge of the modern food industry. Their approach is critical and thereby reliable. Their primary sources and first hand experience of certain places makes it difficult to question the high standard journalism they practise. Industrial agriculture, fish farming, antibiotics and rainforest wasting are some of the topics being thoroughly discussed and earning the journalists the Swedish prize ”Stora journalistpriset” 2011.
Never has the food been as cheap as today. Swedes spend only 13% of their income on food. In the beginning of the 90's they spent 20%. Something has happaned over the course of twenty years, that’s evident. Mostly, it depends on the increased import business, but also the fact that groceries get cheaper due to fake fertilizers, insecticides, preventive antibiotics and genetic manipulation - all of which destroy the soil and affect the earth. In a couple of generations, it will reveal the affect on human beings, as well.
75% of the world’s wild fish is next to overfished. Nearly all wild fish will approximately be extinguished before 2050, according to FAO, UN. The authors visited Vietnam and several fish farms to discuss the problem. Fishfarmers uses ”ca com”, a small fish, to feed the farming fish. The problem is that more wild fish is consumed for the making of fish flour than is saved by fish farming. Another problem is the environmental consequences. The waste from the over populated basins, nitrogen and phosphor, feed algae blooms and kill wild fish. Mussels, on the other hand, are able to live in water with next to no oxygen and at the same time they are a kind of sewage treatment. If the fish flour could be switched to mussle flour it would mean great benefits for the environment.
The next stop on the road to enlightment is Brasil. The dangerous poison and insecticide Paraquat is used in soy growth, which is later exported to scandinavian countries, among them Sweden, despite the fact that it is strongly forbidden here. Paraquat has killed people and causes great injuries just to inhale, but is still used to maximize the soy production, from which fields we import soy beans. Another problem in Brasil is that rainforests are being wasted for animal farms, something that affects the climate.
We also import a great deal of meat. An important issue is the treatment of the animals. They are bred to such an extent that they have lost their mating instinct and even the ability to walk. Kickens have more mussles and thereby more weight than they can master, and collapse. Pigs are eating each other’s tales and cows are living shorter lives. To minimize the costs the pigs are put to death without anaesthetic and antibiotics are being distributed. Antibiotics are also used in Vietnam’s fish farming, but not only when it's needed, but as a preventative. The multiresistance is transferred to human beings along with the toxic substances. Transferred to the fetus and new born babies through breast-feeding, the levels of toxic chemicals in the blood stream increases as much as twenty times, according to a reacent study made by the Swedish tv-program ”Vetenskapens värld” (The world of science”).
After the two journalists exposed the food industry, people tend to take an interest in the subject, and studies as mentioned will get the attention it deserves. It is truly essential because the companies go as far as it takes to uphold and increase purchases. The prizes are being pressed, the farmers have to do whatever they can to be able to survive - even if it means using toxic substances, treat animals really badly and destroy the environment. The whole system - even the politicans and banks - are depended upon the economic profits, and that’s why it’s so difficult to change. ”Livsmedelsverket”, the Swedish ministry working with grocery issues, along with several companies, have tried to work against this development, but they always seem to reach a cul-de-sac. Even the big Swedish pension fund, ”Sjunde AP-fonden” has interests in the industrial, fake-fertilized food industry, of which the customers have no insight.
1990 was the imported food 25% of the total, the current number is 50%. The fossil fuels are decreasing and a global enery crises aren’t far fetched. Apart from the environmental tragedy, there is the problem of dependance. If we would be independant of chemical insecticides, fake fertilizers and energy consuming transportations, we would manage such a crisis.
We have known some of it for many years, but now we know more than ever before. It’s time to use our possibility to choose, despite the costs of ecological food. Some people move out to the country and start their own ecological cultivation. Others, belonging to the group ”Guerilla gardening”, carry out nocturnal raids, where they plant apple-trees and eatable plants during the night - a small step towards making cities more self-sufficient. A popular trend in highly populated cities as New York is rooftop cultivation and in London the project "Capital Growth" encourages people to construct something similar to allotment gardens. The movement ”Transition Network” tries to influence a better local production and self-sufficiency. It has spread to other countries, and in some cities in Sweden local farmers are selling directly to customers, without intermediaries, to be able to assure the customers that the meat is ecological and to not be affected by the rising or falling prices on the global market - prospective buyers are a contributing factor to farmers not affording to grow ecological food.
Even if the politicans have responsibility and the power of influence I feel we need to think for ourselves. We don’t need to by the 6 dollar pork fillet. Many people can afford to buy ecological food. At least, those who have a choice what to afford can choose to afford this food and choose not to afford certain other imaginary-must-haves. It's about priority. We should consider what's important and prioritize these things.
Never has the food been as cheap as today. Swedes spend only 13% of their income on food. In the beginning of the 90's they spent 20%. Something has happaned over the course of twenty years, that’s evident. Mostly, it depends on the increased import business, but also the fact that groceries get cheaper due to fake fertilizers, insecticides, preventive antibiotics and genetic manipulation - all of which destroy the soil and affect the earth. In a couple of generations, it will reveal the affect on human beings, as well.
75% of the world’s wild fish is next to overfished. Nearly all wild fish will approximately be extinguished before 2050, according to FAO, UN. The authors visited Vietnam and several fish farms to discuss the problem. Fishfarmers uses ”ca com”, a small fish, to feed the farming fish. The problem is that more wild fish is consumed for the making of fish flour than is saved by fish farming. Another problem is the environmental consequences. The waste from the over populated basins, nitrogen and phosphor, feed algae blooms and kill wild fish. Mussels, on the other hand, are able to live in water with next to no oxygen and at the same time they are a kind of sewage treatment. If the fish flour could be switched to mussle flour it would mean great benefits for the environment.
The next stop on the road to enlightment is Brasil. The dangerous poison and insecticide Paraquat is used in soy growth, which is later exported to scandinavian countries, among them Sweden, despite the fact that it is strongly forbidden here. Paraquat has killed people and causes great injuries just to inhale, but is still used to maximize the soy production, from which fields we import soy beans. Another problem in Brasil is that rainforests are being wasted for animal farms, something that affects the climate.
We also import a great deal of meat. An important issue is the treatment of the animals. They are bred to such an extent that they have lost their mating instinct and even the ability to walk. Kickens have more mussles and thereby more weight than they can master, and collapse. Pigs are eating each other’s tales and cows are living shorter lives. To minimize the costs the pigs are put to death without anaesthetic and antibiotics are being distributed. Antibiotics are also used in Vietnam’s fish farming, but not only when it's needed, but as a preventative. The multiresistance is transferred to human beings along with the toxic substances. Transferred to the fetus and new born babies through breast-feeding, the levels of toxic chemicals in the blood stream increases as much as twenty times, according to a reacent study made by the Swedish tv-program ”Vetenskapens värld” (The world of science”).
After the two journalists exposed the food industry, people tend to take an interest in the subject, and studies as mentioned will get the attention it deserves. It is truly essential because the companies go as far as it takes to uphold and increase purchases. The prizes are being pressed, the farmers have to do whatever they can to be able to survive - even if it means using toxic substances, treat animals really badly and destroy the environment. The whole system - even the politicans and banks - are depended upon the economic profits, and that’s why it’s so difficult to change. ”Livsmedelsverket”, the Swedish ministry working with grocery issues, along with several companies, have tried to work against this development, but they always seem to reach a cul-de-sac. Even the big Swedish pension fund, ”Sjunde AP-fonden” has interests in the industrial, fake-fertilized food industry, of which the customers have no insight.
1990 was the imported food 25% of the total, the current number is 50%. The fossil fuels are decreasing and a global enery crises aren’t far fetched. Apart from the environmental tragedy, there is the problem of dependance. If we would be independant of chemical insecticides, fake fertilizers and energy consuming transportations, we would manage such a crisis.
We have known some of it for many years, but now we know more than ever before. It’s time to use our possibility to choose, despite the costs of ecological food. Some people move out to the country and start their own ecological cultivation. Others, belonging to the group ”Guerilla gardening”, carry out nocturnal raids, where they plant apple-trees and eatable plants during the night - a small step towards making cities more self-sufficient. A popular trend in highly populated cities as New York is rooftop cultivation and in London the project "Capital Growth" encourages people to construct something similar to allotment gardens. The movement ”Transition Network” tries to influence a better local production and self-sufficiency. It has spread to other countries, and in some cities in Sweden local farmers are selling directly to customers, without intermediaries, to be able to assure the customers that the meat is ecological and to not be affected by the rising or falling prices on the global market - prospective buyers are a contributing factor to farmers not affording to grow ecological food.
Even if the politicans have responsibility and the power of influence I feel we need to think for ourselves. We don’t need to by the 6 dollar pork fillet. Many people can afford to buy ecological food. At least, those who have a choice what to afford can choose to afford this food and choose not to afford certain other imaginary-must-haves. It's about priority. We should consider what's important and prioritize these things.
August 20, 2012
Det blev krav-märkt till middag idag!
July 4, 2012
Har inte lyssnat på alla deras radioprogram än och det var nog tur, för de jag lyssnat på var nästintill identiska med kapell i boken. Rekommenderar boken till alla som vill veta hur det funkar och få argument för att köpa lite dyrare och bättre producerad mat.
January 5, 2013
En berättelse om ett samhälle som i jakten på billigare mat får betala ett högt pris: http://bergander.wordpress.com/2012/0...
January 9, 2015
Shit vad mycket skit det finns i livsmedelsindustrin alltså. SUCK alltså! Men en riktigt intressant bok!
Längre recension här: http://schitzo-cookie.blogspot.se/201...!!
Längre recension här: http://schitzo-cookie.blogspot.se/201...!!
May 2, 2012
Skrämmande och upplysande bok som får en till att vilja kasta ut all skräpmat man har hemma och börja med att köpa ren mat.
August 22, 2012
Alla borde läsa den här boken. Ger riktigt bra insikt i hur matindustrin fungerar och hur långt vi är villiga att gå för att pressa priset.
Sorgligt men sant.
Rekommenderas starkt!
Sorgligt men sant.
Rekommenderas starkt!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews