Mozzarella Reminder

Posted by Rebecca Ford Jan 24, 2008

The crisis in the Italian buffalo mozzarella industry, caused by the infectious disease brucellosis, is a sharp reminder of how dependent we all are on both government and the farming industry to provide us with safe, healthy food. And how important it is for us to question what we eat and how it's produced.

The horrors of Mad Cow Disease (who ever though it would be a good idea to feed herbivores pellets containing ground up meat remnants?), and Foot and Mouth disease (one outbreak caused by seepage from a government laboratory, of all things) are still fresh in the memory of most people in Britain at least.

Recent campaigns in the UK by the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and food writer Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have focused attention on the appalling conditions endured by battery and broiler chickens - and have encouraged people to buy free-range, organic produce instead. Some commentators have criticised them and justified 'factory' production on the grounds that it provides cheap eggs and meat for people with little money - rather missing the point that eating much less meat and fewer eggs, of a higher quality, would be far healthier.

You are what you eat, goes the old adage. Worth remembering.