KNOW YOUR FOOD

At the table the consumer is master of the feast A transparent food system is hard to find. Even in the world’s most developed economies, giant food companies keep their tactics and techniques under wraps under the pretense of keeping their intellectual property safe and their production lines untainted. But food is a fundamental ingredient of our lives and our health, following only air and water in its importance, and consumers have a right to know how the food they buy is produced. Every country needs to ensure the transparency of its food system, though governmental monitoring need not be the only force at work. Consumers have the opportunity every day to vote with their fork, as food writer and activist Michael Pollan says. Creatures of habit The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation’s Marcel Ghanem, in addressing the issue of food safety on the Kalam El Nas program this past July, generated