By Jessie Schirrick Posted March 17, 2014
Honestly, had I not been assigned to read this book for AP Comp. I probably wouldn’t have ever considered it, but I’m glad that I did because it completely opened my eyes to what I’m putting in my mouth and how it can affect me.
The complete title of the book is ‘Salt Sugar Fat: How The Food Giants Hooked Us’ and it tells exactly that. The book outlines the supremacy the food industry maintains in the economy and illustrates the strong connection between the increase in the national consumption of processed foods and the increase in the number of obese Americans. Moss personally interviewed food scientists, CEOs, and employees of major companies and received some shocking information about how detrimental processed food can be to a person’s health and how the processed food industry so readily utilizes manipulative marketing tactics.
For example, the book explains the science that goes into the location of convenience stores(or C-stores as they are referred to in the book.) C-stores are strategically located in close proximity to schools so that kids walk by them every day. The idea is to make a trip to the C-store part of the daily routine. C-stores are a vital tool for food companies but they don’t sell anything but junk food. Another even more eye-opening fact about food companies is that they are allowed to reduce the amount of salt or sugar by a teaspoon and call it their “diet version”.
The book is very well written and informative, and don’t be mistaken, Moss isn’t out to ban Macaroni and cheese and Oreos though. The book’s purpose is merely to wake up the reader and maybe help them think twice about what they’re eating and how it will affect their health.
