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Central African Republic: Looming Food Crisis in Country

Bangui — Humanitarian agencies are warning of a looming food crisis in parts of the Central African Republic (CAR), a result of the insecurity that has displaced thousands of people and disrupted cultivation and trade.

Clashes between government and rebel forces in December and early January left some parts of CAR - and an estimated 800,000 people - under the control of the rebel Séléka coalition.

"Between July and September, there will be serious food shortages in the most affected areas. So the first priority is to restart programmes that have been disrupted in these areas," Jean Martin Bauer, an analyst with the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said.

Food prices are increasing, according to the findings of a recent assessment by WFP and its partners.

"Since December 2012, trade has been interrupted between the area held by the Séléka coalition and the rest of the country, bringing transactions to a halt and leading to sharp price increases.

The cost of a food basket has increased by 40 percent in the area under the control of the Central African armed forces. Some of the zones under the control of the Séléka are experiencing food deficits due to price increases," stated a 15 February statement by WFP.

Humanitarian officials expressed concern over the upcoming cropping season. "We are very concerned about prospect for the 2013 growing season, which is due to start in just a few weeks. Land preparation, which should have begun, is behind schedule in many places due to insecurity," said Rockaya Fall, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative in CAR.

The disruption of trade has caused income sources to decline, adds the statement: "The marketing season of the annual cotton crop, a lifeline for the northern part of the country, has yet to start in the Séléka zone, depriving farmers [of] their main income source."

An estimated 80,538 people in the Séléka zone are at risk of food insecurity in the May-September lean season.

The situation in CAR remains unpredictable despite an 11 January ceasefire, added a report released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 18 February, which noted that a lack of humanitarian access due to insecurity, especially in the east, and poor roads are hindering the provision of assistance.

Access

Aid officials are calling for access to Séléka-held areas.

"The main problem is to open a humanitarian corridor in the Séléka-held areas. Once free to move, we will be able to bring the affected population together so as to provide the necessary assistance," said Kaarina Immonen, the UN deputy special representative for CAR.

Other main humanitarian needs include healthcare and education.

"We must go to those who are suffering. But first we would like to know and to understand the health situation on the ground before we respond to the needs of the population in the areas of conflict," said Honorat Ouilibona-Cockciss, the chief of staff in the ministry of health.

The number of patients seeking medical care is on the rise. In the area of Damara, 75km from the capital Bangui, for example, health centres are recording up to 200 consultations each day despite inadequate staff.

Almost all of the schools in the Séléka-held areas have been closed, with at least 166,000 children out of school, according to OCHA. Some teachers have also fled, according to Henry Sylvain Yakara, a national humanitarian affairs officer with OCHA.

The Séléka-rebels also destroyed some school facilities and were using some schools buildings as their bases, added Yakara.

Attacks continuing

Despite the 11 January peace accord, and the later formation of a government of national unity integrating the Séléka rebels, attacks are continuing.

In early February, for example, 2,300 people fled the southeastern CAR region of Mobaye for the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) area of Mobayi-Mbongo after a Séléka attack. Some 4,500 people had previously fled to DRC in the past weeks, with hundreds of others seeking refuge in Chad.

The Séléka rebels comprise militias from the Union des forces démocratiques pour le rassemblement (UFDR), the Convention Patriotique pour le Salut Wa Kodro (CSPK) and Convention des patriotes pour la justice et la paix (CPJP), who were seeking to overthrow the CAR government.

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.]

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WEP voices concern over food crisis in Sahel

New York, Feb 21 : A year after the international community launched a massive humanitarian response to the food crisis affecting Africa's Sahel region, millions of people there are still affected by drought and require assistance, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

"This year, some nine million people across the Sahel will still require food assistance from WFP, through emergency food assistance, rural development, nutrition and education activities," said Ertharin Cousin, WFP Executive Director.

Cousin was the host of a high-level event in Rome bringing together leaders of humanitarian agencies, government representatives from affected countries and major donors to review the effectiveness of the assistance provided to the region.

Last year the international community helped to avert a humanitarian catastrophe by providing $1.2 billion in assistance to around 10 million people across eight countries in the Sahel, noted a news release issued by WFP.

"However, millions of people in the region are still affected by drought, with close to 1.5 million children under the age of five at risk of severe acute malnutrition," said the agency.

Cousin emphasized that boosting food security and building resilience lies at the heart of the collective efforts to change the pattern of recurring drought and continue on the path towards a better future.

WFP says that crop prospects are currently encouraging, but there is a high risk of future shocks, due to increased rates of poverty and undernourishment, extreme weather, environmental degradation, low investment in agriculture, high prices and vulnerability to market volatility.

Also, the conflict in Mali has triggered widespread displacement in the region, uprooting half a million people and placing pressure on communities still recovering from drought.

The western part of the Sahel region, which stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, and includes Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and parts of Sudan, Cameroon and Nigeria, is facing a swathe of problems, which are not only political but also involve security, humanitarian resilience and human rights.

Last September, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi as his Special Envoy for the Sahel and tasked him with shaping and mobilizing an effective UN and international response to the multiple crises facing the region.

"The focus of the United Nations strategy for the Sahel is on the people of the region, to help them address the root causes of instability, with special emphasis on marginalized communities," said Prodi. "My role is to bring the best minds and all the resources possible around key long-term development issues that critically affect the peoples of the region."

Wednesday's event also featured a short documentary film, "The Human Chain," which chronicles the humanitarian response to last year's Sahel crisis, illustrates various forms of assistance - including cash and vouchers, special nutrition programmes to prevent severe cases of malnutrition as well as support for smallholder farmers to improve their self-reliance in the face of difficult climatic and economic conditions.

--IBNS Post your comment

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Insurgency threatens food crisis in Central African Republic - WFP

GENEVA (Reuters) - Insecurity in Central African Republic threatens a severe food crisis this year, the U.N. World Food Programme said on Friday, citing a doubling of prices for staples such as corn after a month-long insurgency.

Some 800,000 people live in the central third of CAR, an area still held by the Seleka rebel coalition.

Widespread looting had reduced household production as well as stocks of food, seed and animals, and insecurity was preventing farmers from going about their work, it said. Food in CAR comes mainly from subsistence farming and market gardening.

The mineral-rich former French colony signed a ceasefire deal with Seleka on January 11 after an insurgency that swept to within striking distance of the capital.

Humanitarian access to that area must be ensured to avoid a crisis, WFP said. Farmers in the northern part of that area were being deprived of their main income source because they cannot get their already-harvested cotton crop to market, it said.

Citing a food security assessment by the United Nations and non-governmental organisations, WFP said food looked set to become especially short in the May to September rainy season.

WFP had been distributing aid to 200,000 people in the area controlled by Seleka before the insurgency and says at least 80,000 people now faced a severe risk of food shortage.

Seleka, a coalition of five separate rebel groups, launched its insurgency in early December, accusing President Francois Bozize of reneging on a 2007 peace deal supposed to provide jobs and money to insurgents who laid down their weapons.

"The cost of a food basket has increased by 40 percent in the area under the control of the central African armed forces. Some of the zones under the control of the Seleka are experiencing food deficits due to price increases," WFP said.

Central African Republic, with a population of about 4.5 million, remains one of the least developed countries on the planet despite rich deposits of gold, diamonds and uranium.

The country is one of a number in the region where U.S. Special Forces are helping local soldiers hunt down the Lord's Resistance Army, an unrelated rebel group that has killed thousands of civilians across four nations.

(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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Fact vs. Fiction in Food Crisis Management - AgWired

Sue Borra and Eric Mittenthal Crisis management. We hear a lot about it and any company wants to be ready to handle one if it should happen. How do you deal with fact vs. fiction, especially in the food industry? At today’s Annual Meat Conference we heard from Sue Borra, Senior Vice President of Communications, Food Marketing Institute and Eric Mittenthal, Vice President, Public Affairs, American Meat Institute, on this topic.

When it comes to food retail Sue says food safety is the number one concern. They place extremely high value on what their customers think. So if a crisis breaks out they want to be able to communicate rapidly, effectively and with as much information as possible. Both Sue and Eric emphasized the importance of planning ahead and being ready to be proactive. Their organizations are constantly looking ahead and prepare information that is readily available to their members.

I brought up social media since we’ve seen both fact and fiction explode overnight on some issues, including in the food world. Sue says that most retailers are now active in social media and they monitor what is being said about their companies. It’s about trust and transparency! Very important words.

Listen in to my conversation with Sue and Eric to learn more about their thoughts on this subject here: Interview with Sue Borra & Eric Mittenthal

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Food crisis needed for Europe to accept GM: US government adviser - FoodManufacture.co.uk

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Food crisis needed for Europe to accept GM: US government adviser Post a commentBy Mike Stones , 01-Mar-2013

It will take a food security crisis to make European consumers recognise the need for genetically modified (GM) food, warns a senior US government adviser.

A hungry planet cannot afford to turn its back on GM producton, said Jack Bobo, US government biotechnology adviser

Jack Bobo, senior biotechnology adviser to the US State Department, told a Chartered Institute of Marketing seminar in London yesterday (February 28): “It will take a crisis to make everyone [in Europe] see the point of GM."

“There will be a move from not liking GM [food technology] to requiring it. That was the worst possible outcome but, unfortunately, it was also the most likely outcome.”

In his lecture – Can agriculture save the world before it destroys it? – Bobo argued that GM food technology was vital to safeguard food security, economic security and national security.

GM techniques could deliver improved yields and nutrition while reducing the use of pesticides, greenhouse gas emissions, water use and soil erosion, he said.

‘Peak child’

As the global population was predicted to reach more than 9bn by 2050, the benefits of GM could no longer be ignored in an increasingly hungry world. “Since the world had now reached ‘peak child’ [the highest number of children there will ever be], the decisions made between now and 2050 would be the most important [food] decisions that will ever be taken. Either we cut down more forest, or do it [agriculture] in a more sustainable way than at present.”

Feeding up to 9bn people will require the world to produce as much food as in the previous 10,000 years, he said. To do that will require the best of different technologies, including organic techniques such as minimum cultivations to save water, plus conventional farming and GM, he said.

But such an eclectic approach to food production would require more effective dialogue between people with opposing views, he added.“We need to move from protest to conversation.”

No single technology supplied all the answers to meeting the challenge of increased food production. For example, biotechnology “isn’t going to solve climate change or food security by itself”.

‘No exportable surplus food’

But adopting solely organic farming would severely limit yield, he said. “If the US were all organic, we would have no exportable surplus food. We would have enough food for the US, but there would be repercussions.”

For example, Europe depended on food imports – particularly from Brazil. While Europe had the right to decide its own food policy – such as to reject GM production – it should be aware of “the consequences of those choices” both at home and for trade partners, he said.

“The extra land mass [outside the continent] needed to feed Europe is about the size of Germany. This is the consequence of technology choices.”

Bobo also highlighted the need to understand that agricultural exports involved not just food but the water used to produce it. “When we ship steak to Europe, we also ship the embedded water used to make it,” he said. “70% of all the world’s fresh water goes to agriculture.”

Meanwhile, Nestlé boss Paul Bulcke, speaking earlier this week at the City Food Lecture, urged industry, government and other stakeholders to act decisively to mitigate the massive food shortages. “It is anticipated that there will be up to 30% shortfalls in global cereal production by 2030 due to water scarcity,” said Bulcke. “This is a loss equivalent to the entire grain crops of India and the United States combined.”

Don’t miss Bobo’s US perspective on horsemeat, GM and British supermarkets next week on FoodManufacture.co.uk.

Jack Bobo in quotes

Demographics: “The number of children in the world today will never be greater than it is now. We have reached 'peak child'.”Organic: “In general, organic agriculture produces about one-third less than conventional agriculture. But it can produce more of some products [such as fruit]”Trade: “European [food] choices affect agriculture in Brazil, because it’s the biggest exporter to Europe. Europe has the right to make its own food choices but it must be aware of the consequences of those choices.”Science: “Science and technology are considered to be bad but they have helped us reach where we are today.”US food production: “The goal is not for the US to feed the world but for the world to feed itself. Not for us to give food to Africa forever but to help farmers before food crises happen.” This content is copyright protected However, if you would like to share the information in this article, you may use the headline, summary and link below:

Food crisis needed for Europe to accept GM: US government adviser

It will take a food security crisis to make European consumers recognise the need for genetically modified (GM) food, warns a senior US government adviser.

http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/World-News/Food-crisis-needed-for-Europe-to-accept-GM-US-government-adviser

Keywords: US agriculture, Food trade, GM, Food exports

UN assessment warns of potential food crisis in Central African Republic - UN News Centre

Food drop over Sikikédé, Central African Republic, in response to the food and nutrition crisis in the western Vakaga region in September 2012. Photo: OCHA/L. Paletta

15 February 2013 – An assessment conducted by the United Nations and its partners has found that the recent conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) could trigger a food crisis in the country, the world body said today.

“We are very concerned about prospects for the 2013 growing season, which is due to start in just a few weeks,” said the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Representative in Bangui, Rockaya Fall. “Land preparation, which should have begun, is behind schedule in many places, due to insecurity.”

The CAR has a history of political instability and recurring armed conflict. The country saw renewed fighting in December, when an alliance of rebel groups – known, collectively, as ‘Séléka’ – launched a series of attacks and took control of major towns before agreeing to start peace talks under the auspices of the regional group known as the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).

According to the assessment, trade has been interrupted between the area held by the Séléka coalition and the rest of the country, bringing transactions to a halt and leading to sharp increases in food prices.

The cost of a food basket has increased by 40 per cent in the area under the control of the Central African armed forces, while zones under the control of the Séléka, where some 800,000 live, are experiencing food deficits. Looting has become widespread, and is affecting food and seed stocks as well as animals and livestock. The resulting insecurity is also limiting farmers from working their fields.

The World Food Programme (WFP) warned that food deficits will be highest during the lean season from May to September. Added to that, as food prices increase, the population’s resources will further dwindle. Whereas a Central African labourer could purchase as much as six kilogrammes of cassava with a day’s wages a year ago, he or she can only purchase three kilogrammes this year, due to lower wage rates and higher prices.

“Although the situation in the field has yet to reach crisis proportions, there is risk that it might during the approaching lean season,” said WFP Representative in the CAR, Housainou Taal. “Humanitarian access to the Séléka zone must be ensured to avoid a crisis.”

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A serious food crisis is brewing in Haiti – here's how to stop it - The Guardian

A Haitian farmer works on a field in an area outside Port-au-Prince, January 2013. Photograph: Swoan Parker/Reuters

As well as exporting cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, mangos, breadfruit and potatoes, Haitians rely on 40% of the food produced in the country for local consumption. With this in mind, it's easy to see why last year's dramatic weather patterns and global economic meltdown produced aftershocks as significant and devastating as those of the 2010 earthquake.

In 2012, there were five events – separate, but intrinsically linked – that Haiti did not handle well, in my opinion. First, severe drought meant farmers failed to maintain a good harvest for the spring season from April to August, resulting in overall losses reaching staggering levels – 42-60% of Haiti's overall food production. Second, spiralling global food prices made it increasingly difficult for those still recovering from the myriad effects of the earthquake to buy basic foodstuffs.

Third, hurricane Isaac hit Haiti in August, swiftly followed by hurricane Sandy in October and extreme flooding in the north of the country in November. These natural disasters not only wiped out swaths of crops and many farms but generated a loss of more than $250m (£159m), excluding the huge damage inflicted on infrastructure and livestock.

In short, the overall combination of events in Haiti has created the perfect storm for a genuine food crisis. For example, in 2011, 8% of Haitians (about 800,000 people) were living with chronic malnutrition; now, that number has leapt to 1.52 million. This sharp increase is very worrying.

Since October, there have been demonstrations against high living costs and some families have been forced to eat less. Instead of two meals a day, they now have one. Some cut trees for charcoal to sell to local businesses such as bakeries, while others migrate to cities and towns, as well as to the Dominican Republic or other islands. Sadly, I have heard stories of desperate families sending their children to work as domestic helpers – a job in which living conditions are notoriously bad.

In certain areas, there have been some direct responses from NGOs and the government to help people access food and short-term jobs. The government directive to reduce the price of some basic foodstuffs such as rice is welcomed, even if, legally, they are supposed to supply their systems with local products.

However, one of the biggest challenges for this year is to make sure that we help Haiti's farmers to sell their produce. The government and private businesses are taking far too much time to take the right decisions. A case in point: the Haitian government was meant to inject 5bn gourdes, the equivalent of more than $10m, into the agricultural sector following the storms at the end of last year but I have never seen any real plans – or any big rush – to make this happen.

On the other hand, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Haitian government set up a joint appeal to donors for more than $70m; by the end of December, they had received less than 5%.

Another issue is that we don't have a seed bank in Haiti. Having one would change lives – it would mean there would always be a place for farmers to sell seeds while making them available for those who need them. Instead of importing all kind of goods, surely it would be better to invest in Haiti itself, at grassroots level. We could have strategic seed banks all around the country, with silos in communities and at family level, and we could advise investors to buy local produce in advance, to give farmers incentives. These investors could advertise local produce and sell it at a good price. It's a win-win.

Finally, the Haitian government needs to realise that, although we have enough water for both agriculture and drinking, we desperately need to know how to manage this precious resource properly. We could have dams for irrigation and electricity, for example. These are all ideas for the future. Right now, though, if farmers don't receive appropriate support over the next few months in terms of seeds, livestock, fishing – and if agricultural infrastructure, such as irrigation canals and roads, aren't repaired – Haiti will miss the spring cultivation season.

This can only make a bad situation worse. With global food prices set to remain high, Haiti desperately needs to address what is fast becoming a crisis. If this is not done, it could destabilise the already tense political situation and throw us all into yet another emergency, with programmes that simply cannot provide long-term solutions.

Yes, we need to build Haiti back better – but to do this we need some medium- and long-term solutions, and a little more lateral thinking about how we can utilise the wonderful resources we already have.

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Food Crisis To Continue - Financial Advisor Magazine (blog)

If you are invested in commodities or have positions in Big Ag then listen up -- or listen to, as I do, the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. (I used an abundance of their material in my book, The Big Handout, about the corrupt subsidy system that ensnares politicians, lobbyists, farmers and ultimately our food bills.)

The institude engages in fine work that showcases the link -- dare I say impact -- between investments, policies and food (among other things). Its work can be found here: Food Crisis Blog. And I have exacted a summary of the latest research, findings and opinions by GDAE scholars Timothy Wise and Sophia Murphy below.

This research is a must read if you believe, as famed investor and hedge fund manager Jim Rogers does, that farmers are the future. Here is a point in kind: "Last year, international food markets suffered their third price spike in five years. The trigger was a terrible drought in the United States -- a major agricultural producer and exporter. An unstable climate met low levels of international grain reserves, while U.S. ethanol gobbled up maize supplies. The resulting high and volatile prices struck yet another blow at the world’s already fragile food systems," according to Wise and Murphy.

They note that this is exactly the scenario they warned of last year when they published “Resolving the Food Crisis,” a comprehensive assessment of the international community’s response to the global food price crisis. "High and volatile food prices in international markets will continue until structural reforms to trade, finance and agriculture are put in place to address the real drivers of the food crisis," they wrote.

Wise and Murphy now say it’s time for "meaningful limits on financial speculation, reformed mandates for biofuels made from food crops, a system of internationally coordinated public food reserves, and strong regulation on land investments." They believe donors should continue to invest in developing-country agriculture, respecting their commitment to recipient country leadership. "If the private sector engages, it, too, must respect the rights of the people it engages with," say Wise and Murphy.

I couldn't agree more. If we can't connect the dots of something as close to us as our stomachs, then what can we? And when can we demand change? Not anytime soon if the GDAE is to be believed.

Here is Wise and Murphy's review of progress on these issues in 2012:

Funding for agricultural development: Instead of renewing their 2009 L’Aquila commitment to invest significant aid money in agriculture, the G-8 group of powerful nations rolled out the “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.” Most of the funding comes from private-sector partners like Monsanto and Yara, a global fertilizer company. The aid comes with strings: To qualify, governments must, “refine policies in order to improve investment opportunities.”

Reforming biofuels policies: Developed countries improved their biofuel policies some, but the industry boom continued, still supported by government-mandated minimum use policies. The United States ended its tax credit and tariff on imported ethanol, but refused to waive the minimum-use mandate for biofuels during the drought. The government even proposed raising the allowable percentage of ethanol in petrol from 10 percent to 15 percent. The European Union proposed to halve from 10 percent to 5 percent the amount of transportation fuel that can be sourced from food/feed crops, a valuable reform, but failed to impose a firm cap.

Regulating financial speculation on agricultural commodities: The United States and the European Union both introduced regulations to bring over-the-counter (OTC) trading on commodity futures markets onto regulated exchanges and to impose stricter “position limits” on the scale and scope of any one trader’s holdings. But the financial industry spent the year lobbying hard, and it successfully delayed and weakened approved reforms, in part through legal challenges. The E.U. is unlikely to implement the Market in Financial Instruments Directive before 2015. Much more encouragingly, a Financial Transaction Tax will be implemented in 11 European countries, a bold and important step to raise needed revenues while reducing incentives for financial speculation.

Building public food reserves: World stocks-to-use levels remain dangerously low for major grains. Several G-20 countries remain hostile to public stockholding and have resisted international discussion of how to coordinate grain reserves. Meanwhile, many developing countries are rebuilding domestic food stocks. In West Africa, the initiative to create a regional emergency food reserve continues to take shape.

Stopping land grabs: Large-scale land acquisitions in developing countries continue at an alarming pace. The World Bank rejected Oxfam’s call for the bank to support a moratorium on land deals. Yet global efforts to slow and regulate them made important progress in 2012. The U.N. Committee on World Food Security (CFS) adopted the Voluntary Guidelines on Land Tenure in May, while Tanzania has announced it will limit how much land foreign investors can acquire.

Addressing climate change: Drought and storms wreaked unusual havoc in 2012, reminding all of the reality of climate change. But global climate talks in Doha achieved little. The attempt to include agriculture in the formal negotiations stalled, and developing countries’ urgent plea for policies and funding to focus on adaptation went unheeded. More hopeful, climate negotiators approved a mechanism to address "loss and damage" from slow onset impacts of climate change.

Wise and Murphy note that none of these issues is insoluble, but change will require political commitment and international agreement.
And we all know how easy those two things are to procure.

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Bosses caused the food crisis, not poor people - Socialistworker.co.uk

More countries have become embroiled in the scandal of adulteration of food. The discovery of horsemeat in products labelled as beef began in Ireland last month and swiftly spread.

Horsemeat in “beef” ready meals has now been confirmed in products found in Britain, France, Austria, Finland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden.

Councils in Britain claim they are stepping up testing for horsemeat in beef products served at schools and hospitals.

But councils in Bolton, Solihull, Wigan, Brent, Lambeth and Kensington & Chelsea are among those that took no samples of meat for testing last year.

Some seven million people live in areas where meat is not being tested for anything at all.

That means chicken isn?t being tested for salmonella and lamb that is meant to be halal isn?t being tested for beef.

Some supermarket bosses have moved to reassure us and keep us buying.

Philip Clarke, Tesco?s chief executive, promised to “open up” its supply chain.

Meanwhile, ironically, Malcolm Walker, chief executive of Iceland, moaned about the risks of processed food. More hypocrisy came from the government.

The Tories are set to drop plans to opt out of European Union regulations requiring producers and retailers to state what is in their?mincemeat.

They had previously claimed that the regulations inhibited business.

Underlying this is the fact that bosses make far more money from processed food than from non-processed food.

The more things they can add and the more fancy ways they can package it, the higher the prices they can charge.

There is an indigestible snobbery running though the food debate. At every opportunity, the desire is to blame us for what we eat.

The proposal that caught the most headlines is a 20 percent tax on all sugary soft drinks.

The presumption is that, left to their own devices, people will eat and drink the wrong things.

But schools and hospitals have fed people rotten food because of privatisation and profiteering.

And poor people buy cheap food because low wages and benefits don?t give them the choice of buying more expensive food.

None of this is the fault of ordinary people. It?s the fault of the bosses?and governments that back them.

The government is slashing the bodies that could keep food safe and deregulating further to help keep the cut of profits thick.

We need more regulation of food and more inspections?immediately.

But we also need to fight for a food industry run for need not profit to stop the stampede of food scandals.

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