Eminent biologist Brian J Ford makes an incisive contribution to the raging debate on how food is produced and its effect on our health. He examines the food-borne diseases that have always been with us, such as Salmonella and E. coli, as well as those that that have recently emerged, like Listeriosis and new variant CJD.
He reveals many misconceptions in current popular thinking about food, including so-called natural foods, and discusses the role of organic farming. While he advises caution on GM foods, he is enthusiastic about the foods of the future made from new or little-known sources, especially as climate change affects global food production. There are insights on the nutrients that we need for health at different stages of life, on food allergies and intolerances, on the fascinating relationship between food and culture, and the changing theories about the ideal diet.
Agriculture is the biggest industry in the world, yet nutrition remains a Cinderella science. Our future depends on our food. It influences our physical and mental health, underpins our social structures and often dictates the political agenda. A food revolution could change the world.
Brian J. Ford is author of the best-selling textbook Microbiology and Food and hosted the television series Food for Thought. He is Chairman of the History Network at the Institute of Biology, a Fellow of Cardiff University and a Fellow at the Open University Business School. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the McCrone Research Institute in Chicago and of the New York Academy of Science, and lectures regularly in the USA. His work has been discussed in Scientific American, Nature, New Scientist, and the British Medical Journal, and his popular science books have been published in over 90 editions worldwide.