The Food Chain

Food that has been processed, packaged, flavoured and often pre-cooked for us has increasingly become a normal part of everyday life around the globe. But what is the rise and rise of convenience food really doing to us? Many argue it is the root cause of spiralling obesity and diabetes rates, but could we survive without it and feed the world in the process? Manuela Saragosa chews over the issues with a global panel of experts: Award-winning investigative journalist Joanna Blythman, author of Swallow This: Serving Up the Food Industry's Darkest Secrets; Jean-Claude Moubarac, an anthropologist and researcher in nutrition specialising in the effect of processed foods; Food journalist Mark Schatzker, author of The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor. Plus, we travel to China to look at the cultural impact of ‘western’ food. And, historian Rachel Laudan tells us why processed food is at the very heart of what makes us human. (Photo: Supermarket aisles. Credit: Thinkstock)