The Future of Food

Brian J Ford

Thames and Hudson, £6.95, pp 120 ISBN 0 500 28075 4

Rating:

Had it appeared earlier, this monograph on the future of food—one of a series entitled “Prospects for Tomorrow”—would have evoked little interest. However, in the space of a year, fuelled by publicity surrounding genetically modified foods and genetic predisposition to human disease, accounts of food-related health benefits and risks have reached unprecedented levels of visibility and audibility. So what's all the fuss about?

In determining the credibility of any information on the subject, we should remember four things. Every new technology creates winners and losers, and has advocators and detractors. In any head to head confrontation, we can bet that emotion will trump science. Segments of society (the …