YOUR TEXAS AGRICULTURE MINUTE

Big Food turns on itself

By Gene Hall

When did we get, in our national food discussion, to “big is always bad?” The food business is awash with dubious claims that our food system is buoyed by technology that is, at its heart, wrong.

Large companies diminish their bigness with down-home narratives that suggest a Mom and Pop culture. We are encouraged to believe that efficiency is not positive and that costs do not matter. Proven technology is not something that should be hidden, but celebrated.

Many large food companies have centralized quality checking. And it works. Bigness can contribute to safety and quality. Fuzzy narratives about your products and stores might bring people in. That does not free the operators from obligations like living up to questionable claims and avoiding foodborne illness.

As good journalism exposes the facts about food technology, many companies may once again embrace the reality that efficiency and technology are, in fact, virtues.

The preceding commentary is brought to you by Texas Farm Bureau, the “Voice of Texas Agriculture.” Called “Your Texas Agriculture Minute,” TFB will issue thought-provoking editorials each week—via print and audio—to spark understanding of agriculture in the Lone Star State and its impact on each and every Texan.

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