Americans are shockingly unhealthy, and it’s getting worse year after year. Luckily, one brave man is exposing the food mafia that’s ruining our health
By Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
If you’ve ever been on the road in the USA, you’ll know what I mean: there is no food. I don’t mean there’s a shortage of things to eat – there is plenty – but it’s not real food.
Gas stations, corner stores and supermarkets offer highly processed, salty, sugary, plasticky ‘food products’. They are ubiquitous, and there are no fresh, natural alternatives. Simply finding fresh fruit, a bag of nuts or even a ready-made salad is virtually impossible.
And why is this?
Author Jon Gordon blames what he calls The Food Mafia. In other words, the mega-corporations like Pepsi Co, McDonald’s, Coca Cola, Cargill and Nestlé. Each corporation lobbies governments to have their toxic, GMO based products sold in every possible outlet, pushing out fresh foods and giving us little choice about what to eat.
So incensed was Gordon about this, he wrote a book on the subject.
How the Food Mafia is ruining our lives
Over the past 50 years, the health of Americans has gotten worse. Today, an estimated 71% of Americans are overweight or obese. Today, eating processed foods and fast foods may kill more people prematurely than cigarette smoking.
The Standard American Diet (SAD) is clearly a deadly diet.
It has been estimated that perhaps that only about 5% of the American population is at a healthy weight as a result of eating well. A recent study documented that a mere 2.7% of Americans eat healthily and exercise regularly.
One reason for that is normalization of morbid obesity and the fear of ‘body shaming.’ Another is “food deserts.” These are vast areas with reduced availability to fresh fruits and vegetables. Because of limited access to supermarkets, those who live in ‘food deserts’ eat more unhealthy fast and processed foods. In fact, it has become normal for many
The result? Seven times the risk of early-life heart disease and strokes, renal failure and diabetes.
Largely thanks to the Food Mafia, life expectancy in the USA is falling, year after year.
A David vs Goliath story
The Food Mafia book explores the shady side of multinational food corporations in depth.
Their story follows the epic struggle of food entrepreneur Bobby Greystein as he battles the Big Food and Big Sugar lobbies.
This David vs Goliath legal tale truly blows the whistle on corruption, fraud and misplaced faith in an industry that’s arguably responsible for the premature deaths of over 150 million Americans (and 50 million Europeans).
In this exclusive interview, on Gordon shares just how bad the situation is in America today; how he collected information to reveal the corrupt system behind the ‘food mafia’ – and how he feels threatened as a result.
Meet The Man Exposing The Food Mafia
How did you first find out about the nefarious practices of the processed food and sugar industries?
The American Center for Science in the Public Interest released a scathing, 40-page Report, entitled: Supermarkets ‘Rigged’ through Secret Deals with Food Manufacturers. It features Jon’s experience as part of the report. The press release announcing the publication of the Report stated: “New Investigative Report Finds Slotting Fees, ‘Category Captains,’ and Other Deals Undermine Consumer Choice.”
Basically, backroom deals between supermarket chains and food manufacturers help determine which products get placed in high traffic areas. And which products appear at all.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest today is releasing a report exposing these little-known and poorly understood practices and is calling on the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and state Attorneys General to investigate the murky financial arrangements between supermarkets and manufacturers that help shape what America eats.
What was your previous knowledge about the Food Mafia?
Like that of everyone else, none. The Food Mafia is a loose-knit organisation that collectively operates to poison America’s food system, which is what makes it Food Terrorism.
The very day I finished my draft manuscript, the New York Times ran a story entitled The Shady History of Sugar. Reality mimicking art mimicking reality! It revealed the Big Food-Big Sugar Industrial Complex had been bribing Harvard scientists, corrupting politicians and defrauding the American public – if not the world – for decades, about the poison that is sugar.
As it turns out, the whole RDA’s recommended Food Pyramid is a fraud.
The fraud on the American Food system was perpetrated because the Sugar Lobby lawfully and unlawfully lined the pockets of politicians across America. That’s on both sides of the aisle, Democrat and Republican alike. For decades, it has been one of the most powerful lobbies in America.
Given the huge power of those lobbies, do you think your story will be suppressed in any way?
The tide of scientific and public opinion is changing. Enough scientists, public advocacy groups, attorney generals and members of the public see and know the truth. As with Big Tobacco, the force of history will provide the truth. Though of course, The Food Mafia will fight back. Just like Big Tobacco did.
Were you ever worried of the consequences you might confront against the big food corporations?
I thought about using a nom de plume of course. But I tossed that idea aside as cowardice. And even to this day, I am concerned, from time to time, that nefarious things could happen.
I believe my phones were once tapped and that my emails were hacked. But I can’t prove who did it. Also, websites were set up in the manner of trolls…
What were your eating habits before doing your research for this story, and how have they changed?
I was diagnosed pre-diabetic before we wrote the book. My habits changed instantly! I now eat low GI, healthy, organic food to the extent life permits it.
Do you think this issue will lead to legal consequences similar to the tobacco fallout?
Yes, and many others do as well. The Food Mafia is worse than the evil of Big Tobacco, larger in scope, and openly and shamelessly targets innocent children who (deliberately) grow up addicted to sugar.
Could this case change the way we buy food?
It could and should. Together with the overall momentum of the market, with more people knowing that nutrition and diet are hugely important to health and containing health care costs, we also think it will.
There’s a plan to adapt the book into a film. Can you tell me more about it?
Only that it’s in the works and it looks promising. A very big star could come on board, but more to come on that.
Finally, given how nasty the Food Mafia is, what can we do to protect our own health?
Please, avoid sugar. Eat organic, natural foods. Grow your own fruit and vegetables. Avoid processed foods of all kinds.
It’s simple, really.
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