[.ca] The End of Food: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our ... (ISBN 1553651693)

journalism not science:
Calling this review "journalism not science" obviously comes with some presuppositions. Here they are: in journalism, information, while still citing sources, can be largely disconnected, fragmentary and designed for emotional appeal. Science, at its best, presents information logically, avoids selection bias with regard to sources and relies on the empirical data to speak for itself. There is certainly good information in here, although it can be presented in a misleading way. For example, speaking of environmental factors that contribute to chronic disease, Pawlick writes: "Contaminants in foods are part of this phenomenon, as are drugs - some, such as antibiotics, introduced by modern industrial farming and stock-raising methods - that taint our water supplies. A recent federal Environment Canada report, for example, found that Canadian rivers are streams are contaminated "with a range of pharmaceutical drugs that present unknown dangers to people and wildlife," including "painkillers, anti-inflammatories, and prescription drugs used to treat epilepsy and blood cholesterol." Also found in water supplies were antibiotics, anti-depressants like Prozac, and even drugs common in birth-control pills." To the best of my knowledge, this is true. However, this has nothing to do with the food industry, which is the subject of this book. Pawlick starts the paragraph talking about industrial farming methods and then makes a logical leap to talk about pharmaceuticals without any warning. The reader for whom this sort of stuff is likely to think that there is Prozac in the water because of industrial farming. This is not true. For better reads on this subject, check out Jane Goodall's "Harvest for Hope" or Peter Singer and Jim Mason's "The Way We Eat". Three stars because he is still raising his voice on an important matter.

important topic:
Very timely and well researched. Gives strong warnings on a basic issue. Must read. The only thing I want to add is that the problem is a global one, plus countless other problems, which happen especially in the poor nations. Especially for now, the industrial surge in nations like China and India poses great threats to global environment and eco balance in general. One other book offers sweeping views on China and other Asian nations: China's global reach: markets, multinationals, and globalization by a Chinese journalist George Zhibin Gu.

Some good information but a bit over the top:
Generally a good review of the drop in nutritional value of our supermarket food but the author gets a bit carried away as the book progresses. Many of the sources are a bit rudimentary (e.g. introductory nutrition textbooks) and the author enters into a rather disjointed rant about environmental degradation, pollution and the evils of big business. To say that we should all switch to homegrown organic food may not be entirely realistic in todays world. From a personal perspective there is definitely "food for thought" here, but on a global scale it is be a bit simplistic. Still worth a read however for anyone interested in the current state of our food.

Important Read:
I highly recommend this book, Pawlick's mix of scary facts, humor, and figurative language makes this book readable and important. My jaw dropped several times.

A book that's true to its title:
Overall, I found the End of Food invaluable for understanding the influences that determine what ends up in our supermarkets. For example, according to Pawlick, the vast majority of tomatoes grown in North America are of varieties selected primarily for their yield, ease of harvest, and ability to survive transport rather than their flavor and nutritional value. I especially enjoyed the section describing the substantially lower nutritional value of today's supermarket food (like potatoes) versus that of 75 years ago. This book also contains a few sections of what amounts to a laundry list of things that are in our food that shouldn't be (heavy metals, EDTA, feces, etc.) and touches on their harmful effects. I found this section useful as a starting point for further research. However, the list is so long that you could hardly expect a complete evaluation of each of the contaminants. The last section of this book is a sort of "what you can do about it" section, which I found to have little novel information -- it basically says, buy organic, plant your own vegetables, learn where your food comes from, etc. Hardly groundbreaking stuff. Despite a weak finish to the book (i never did finish the last section), I highly recommend this book to get a perspective on the nutritional quality of mass produced food (especially perishables like meat, dairy, vegetables, etc). This book does _not_ focus on animal cruelty in the meat industry, pollution by factory farms, or bashing big business. All of those issues are certainly discussed but Pawlick seems to resist getting on a soap box and instead uses them mostly to describe why the food that is in our supermarket is the way it is.