315: Beyond Waiting for Fakes to Be Busted, How Can Consumers Spot the “Real”?

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When we talk about consumer rights, what exactly are we talking about?

International consumer movements typically frame these rights from four perspectives: the right to safety, the right to information, the right to choose, and the right to be heard.

Today, Foodthink starts with something no one can go a day without – food consumption – and takes stock of how you can fully protect your rights as a consumer.

1. The right to safety

Can We Still Buy Safe Produce?

Do you remember last year’s news that Dingdong Maicai was found to have multiple highly toxic pesticide residues?

Why does conventional agriculture rely so heavily on pesticides?

What harm have organochlorine pesticides – which only entered agricultural use after the Second World War – done to public health and the natural environment, and what policies and legislation have been enacted to regulate them?

Beyond pesticides, today’s conventional agriculture also makes use of herbicides, plant growth regulators, and a range of other chemical inputs. Can we eat the food grown this way with confidence?

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Another enormous threat to public health and food safety is the overuse of antibiotics in industrialised animal farming. Last October, Foodthink organised a reading group on Crisis on Our Table, exploring with readers how chicken became a staple on American dinner tables and, in the process, a hazard.

Why has the farming industry made antibiotic use a routine practice?

How have antibiotics accelerated the industrialisation and intensification of broiler chicken farming and processing?

What problems does the large-scale use of antibiotics create?

How exactly does antimicrobial resistance develop in microorganisms?

What are the consequences of being infected with drug-resistant bacteria?

Most importantly, what possibilities exist for farming that avoids antibiotics and prioritises animal welfare?

● Click the image to learn more about the reading group.

II. The right to information

Before you buy, buy, buy – how much of this information do you really understand?

In modern food consumption, processed food undoubtedly plays an important role. While food technology has extended shelf life and enabled the distribution of goods over wider areas, increasingly complex ingredient lists and ever less transparent production processes make it harder for consumers to sift through the information and make rational choices.

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Why do we love milk tea?

Why can’t we get enough of sugar-sweetened carbonated drinks like “Couch Potato’s Happy Water”? Why is salt added to nearly all processed food?

In Salt Sugar Fat, Michael Moss delves into how food giants use scientific research to design addictive junk food, fuelling consumers’ desire to buy.

Food processing companies exploit not only our physiological feedback mechanisms but also consumers’ widespread indifference to corporate social responsibility. In Coca-Cola’s Empire: A History of Resource Plunder, Bart Elmore argues that the secret behind Coca-Cola’s success lies in depleting public resources and shifting the massive environmental externalities onto the public sector, other businesses, and consumers.

In today’s Chinese context, what urgently needs attention is perhaps the social responsibility of the food service industry and food delivery platforms.

How much plastic waste does food delivery generate each year?

What changes must food delivery platforms make to advance plastic reduction?

Who protects the labour rights of food delivery riders?

And how can their working conditions be improved?

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We believe that companies and platforms have an obligation to disclose this information, and that consumers too should take the initiative to understand the environmental impact of their purchases in order to make better choices.

III. The Right to Choose

Is There Still a Wet Market Near Your Home?

As e-commerce and online shopping become the norm, the bricks-and-mortar retail landscape is quietly shifting. Have you stopped to consider that behind all the convenience lies the shrinking of what was once a rich, diverse retail ecosystem? One telling example is the gradual disappearance of wet markets. The following two articles, set in Beijing, trace how government-led wet market renovations and upgrades have shaped urban transformation across China.

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People tend to miss things only after they are gone – which is precisely why, in recent years, the “smoky warmth” of wet markets has captured considerable attention. Kong Xiao’er’s portraits of stall holders in Shanghai’s markets offer further proof: the everyday vitality within that smoky warmth belongs to each individual, flesh-and-blood vendor.

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Beyond the convenience they offer consumers, what other value do these small vendors hold that ordinary people have yet to notice? The following articles will reveal why the wet market system offers greater freshness and variety than other channels. They also remind readers that the centralisation of distribution channels ultimately narrows our choices to homogeneity. As the economies of scale that favour consolidation continue to intensify, consumers are bound to lose out on diversity.

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Can consolidated big-box supermarkets help us eat better? Let us look at the American example instead. When we mock Americans for eating so crudely and poorly, have we ever stopped to consider why they fill their fridges with so much unhealthy food? Take a tour of an American fridge, browse a shopping guide for North American mega-supermarkets, and perhaps you will come back with a smarter stocking-up list.

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IV. The Right to Be Heard

Consumption – What Other Possibilities Are There?

But food is not merely a commodity meant for exchange. The nutritional, labour, socio-cultural and ecological value embedded in food seems to suggest that the consumption practices built around it need not be limited to a single possibility.

Alternative food consumption can take the form of joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme, sharing profits and risks with producers; or visiting your local farmers’ market, building a connection with the people who grow your food, and understanding what real agricultural production looks like.

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You could also go a step further by joining a consumer cooperative: alongside like-minded consumers, guided by the principles of equality and mutual aid, you can motivate producers to grow the kinds of produce that meet consumers’ needs, and drive change in the way food is cultivated.

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If consumers begin to defend and practise their rights to safety, information, choice and voice, truly rational food consumption can be a win for everyone:

Consumers enjoy safe, healthy and delicious food;

Farmers are free to work with nature autonomously and with peace of mind, receiving fair compensation;

The environment remains unpolluted, natural resources are protected, and they continue to sustain humanity with food.

If this is the world you want, why not start taking action – starting with your very next meal!

Editor: Shitong Jun

Published by Foodthink