By Dina Eliash Robinson
John Belushi’s authority-disrupting cry in “Animal House” is an appropriate title for Daniel Imhoff’s eye-opening book. Shouted in that comic movie, the word launched a wildly hilarious scene. But printed on the cover of this well-documented book, it is a call to action. Specifically, to help pressure Congress into making long-overdue improvements in the next Farm Bill. Not a small matter, since that “gargantuan,” multi-issue omnibus legislation will determine what kind and how much food is grown in this country, by whom and how, for the next five to seven years.
FoodFight putts the U.S. Government on notice that farm subsidies need to be redirected, and changes made in food import-export policies, as well as in the agricultural practices that affect nutrition, health, food safety, conservation and the environment.
Clearly written, well organized and animated with photographs, illustrations and user-friendly graphs, the book resembles a TV documentary. It transforms complex issues and dry data into entertaining and easy to understand information, and connects every issue it covers with people’s everyday lives and concerns. As author and expert in agricultural methods and policies, Michael Pollan, points out in his Foreword to the book, “The Farm Bill determines what our kids will eat for lunch in school every day.”
North Dakota farmer Fred Kirschenmann, goes even farther in his Introduction, contending that “…an enlightened food and farm policy is of considerable consequence to every citizen on the planet.”
FoodFight author Imhoff brings up the necessity to convince Congress to fund and enforce the country-of-origin food labeling (known as COOL) rule in the Farm Bill that was passed in 2002. “Over recent years,” Daniel Imhoff writes, “outbreaks of salmonella poisoning have been traced to cantaloupes imported from Mexico; (and) incidences of brain-wasting mad-cow disease passed on through infected meats, (resulting) in hospitalizations and even deaths.” He attributes the lack of COOL enforcement to heavy lobbying by the U.S. meat industry, which opposes COOL for fear that consumers might question the safety of imported meat. They are right, of course, since some people might forgo hamburgers, if labels would reveal them to contain meats from six to 12 different countries—which is usually the case.
Imhoff is especially alarmed by farm subsidies that keep the costs of unhealthy foods low, thus contributing to the current epidemic of obesity and diabetes.
FoodFight is published by Watershed Media http://www.watershedmedia.org/ and available on http://www.amazon.com/ and from other booksellers.