The Dark History Of Food Cheats

As a historian, Bee Wilson is undoubtedly interested in linking the present to the past, which is just what she does in her new book Swindled: From poisoned sweets to counterfeit coffee, the dark history of the food cheats.

Her premise is that those who sell us our food have quite frequently been economic with the truth. Not just in modern times but right back to the 1800’s. It was a book written in the early 1800’s by the German expatriate chemist Frederick Accum that Bee Wilson says set her off on her researches.

“His book was quite small but it said that practically everything that people were eating and drinking in those days was wrong.”  He pointed out that pickles were made greener by the use of copper, and vinegar made sharper by using sulphuric acid. Today, although different, many of these tricks continue.

One the many interesting exposures in her book involves basmati rice, which for over 100 years has come from the foothills of the Himalayas, and is the finest long grain rice you can buy. Using a DNA process, scientists working at the University of Nottingham worked out a snapshot of what was pure basmati rice. However, there was a drawback because the name had no geographical protection like many food and drink products in Europe. There were even political difficulties in the detective work involved, because the Basmati rice growing area stretched over the Indian border into Pakistan.

There was no doubt to the investigators that it was being tampered with, the main reason being that its price was far higher than any other rice, and there was a big demand for it. It was open to the food swindlers of modern times. Mark Woolfe was the quiet investigator behind all this patient work and in 2004 he published his survey of Basmati. He listed the names and addresses of suppliers and as a result, the industry was shaken.  Two Essex based companies received large fines for selling rice labelled as Basmati that had been adulterated. 

“The previous code of practice allowed for Basmati legally to contain  up to 20 per cent non Basmati rice," Bee writes.  "This has been revised to 7 per cent, still higher than Woolfe would like, but, considering the basic agricultural and handling processes in the countries of origin, it is a step in the right direction.”

What is fascinating about her book is its historical perspective, no doubt because of her academic background that culminated with her being a research fellow at St John’s,Cambridge, where she lives. Before this book she wrote The Hive, which was a historical story of the honeybee, which I bought when it came out four years ago.

Currently she feels the pressure to tamper with food could come in the organic sector, because of the huge demand for organic food, and its premium price. The book records the posh West London restaurant that was fined £7,000 for claiming its meat was organic when it was not.  The mere word ‘organic’ has a market price these days, and there are those, as in the past, who take a short cut to pass it off for what it is not.

When we spoke she praised the work of Jamie Oliver, especially for his work in changing the quality of school food. 

“I have two children at state schools in Cambridge and there is no doubt that their food has improved enormously,” she tell me. 

And she backs the views of the former presenter of  BBC Radio4’s Food Programme, Derek Cooper, that there should not be two sorts of food dividing the class system.

“There is a danger that organic food becomes a rich person’s preserve, a means of protecting the privileged from the squalid realities of poverty. More good would be done by reducing pesticide use across the board, something which is starting to happen, encouragingly in many sectors of agriculture , and switching wherever possible to  sustainable and humane farming than by continuing to set ‘organics’ apart from the rest of agriculture.”

“I buy a lot of organic and non organic. I think the growing farmers market movement is helping. You can look the farmer-producer in the face.”

But beware of the food providers you never see!  They could be the next food swindlers.

Swindled By Bee Wilson is published by John Murray and costs £16.99 from all good bookshops.  Alternatively, you can purchase it from Amazonfor £10.19.   

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