MANGEZ, ON S'OCCUPE DU RESTE: Pour en finir avec les scandales alimentaires

Alimentary scandals are legion, for the lack of transparency of food production chains is staggering. This is a precise and fascinating book that helps the reader to regain confidence as he discovers the mechanisms of food supply, a far cry from popular assumptions and the press releases provided by the lobbies.

Will the next crisis of confidence affect all that is “bio”? Will vegetable oils be the target of the next alimentary scandal? Is fear of cholesterol the rip-off of the century? Will fruits and vegetables one day be singled out as dangerous for the planet? Is fish a source of heavy metals or synthetic hormones? If all these questions are serious ones, it is because there are signs that the agro-alimentary chain is sliding out of control. Examples abound, from horse-meat lasagne to vegetarian dishes full of palm oil, not to mention eggs containing dioxin and killer soybean sprouts. If we take apart the entire chain, from producer to consumer, one is sometimes tempted to conclude that fasting is the only way to escape the effects of an alimentary production that has gotten out of hand. And yet, solutions exist. New methods of production and distribution are being established, and new means of communication concerning the origin of products could also be available to the citizen-consumer. Foods could escape wild promotion campaigns that ruin worth and confidence, and the consumer could also access information about their origins and virtues through an analytical “identity card”. The food chains of the future must respect both the health of the planet and that of its inhabitants. Our alimentary future remains to be imagined and reconstructed. And set up. Fast! A scientist, agricultural engineer, and businessman, Pierre Weill has been working for over 20 years on the correlations between methods of agricultural production, health, and the environment. In particular, he has participated in the elaboration of several clinical studies demonstrating the effects of environment upon human health. He has jointly signed several articles in the scientific press with a review panel that includes INRA or CNRS researchers. He is the author of Tous gros demain? (2007, translated into Korean and German) and Mon assiette, ma santé, ma planète (2010, translated into Chinese), published by Plon, works that have been widely acclaimed by both the scientific community and a vast public.