How Big Food changed the way we eat (rerun)
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 24 December 2024
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hey smarties! We’re on a break for the holidays and revisiting some of our top episodes from 2024. We can’t do this show without you and we still need your support. If you can, donate today to keep independent journalism going strong into 2025 and beyond. Give now to support “Make Me Smart.” Thank you so much for your generosity, happy holidays and we’ll see you in the new year.
Today we’re talking about food. Specifically, Big Food. In his book, “Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry,” Austin Frerick, agricultural and antitrust policy fellow at Yale, argues the food system is the most consolidated sector in the United States. On the show today, Frerick explains how the American food system became so concentrated, how that’s inflated prices and eroded quality, and what we should do about it. Plus, Walmart’s role as king of grocery kings.
Then, we’ll get into why Boeing can’t keep up with SpaceX. And, an expert on youth mental health (and former guest on “Make Me Smart”) was wrong about how teens curate their social media feeds.
Here’s everything else we talked about today:
- “Lax Antitrust Enforcement Imperils The Nation’s Supply Chains” from Forbes
- “What Is “Big Ag,” and Why Should You Be Worried About Them?” from Union of Concerned Scientists
- “The problem with growing corporate concentration and power in the global food system” from Nature Food
- “Major retailers are offering summer deals to entice inflation-weary shoppers” from AP News
- “US Consumer Confidence Rises for First Time in Four Months” from Bloomberg
- “Inflation now means high prices, not just rising costs” from Axios
- “What do Americans think about inflation?” from The Brookings Institution
- “Boeing Prepared to Fly Crewed Space Taxi With Helium Leak” from Bloomberg
We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everybody, it's Kai. You know, one of the best parts about the holidays is sharing meals with family and friends. So today we're bringing you an episode from earlier this year that's all about food and how the food industry has shaped the way we eat. By now, you probably already know that here at Marketplace and Make Me Smart, we give you more than just the numbers every day. We provide context, analysis, and personal stories to help you make sense of them. |
| 0:24.5 | This is your chance to help us in return. |
| 0:27.0 | Help us plan for the future of our not-for-profit newsroom with your donation today. |
| 0:31.3 | There is just a week left to make your tax-deductible contribution before the year is up. |
| 0:36.2 | So don't wait. |
| 0:36.9 | Go to marketplace.org slash give smart, and thanks. |
| 0:45.5 | Hey, everybody, I'm Kyle Rizdahl. |
| 0:47.1 | Welcome back to Make Me Smart, where none of us is as smart as all of us. |
| 0:51.1 | And I'm Kimberly Adams. |
| 0:52.5 | It's Tuesday, May the 28th. Yesterday was Memorial Day, and many of you likely spent the long weekend having food, lots of it, maybe even a classic American barbecue, possibly burgers, hot dogs, veggies, if you were so inclined. So today we are talking about food, specifically big food. |
| 1:14.8 | We wanted to know more about how corporate consolidation in the American food system has impacted consumers |
| 1:19.5 | and whether something should be done about it here to make a smart about all this. |
| 1:23.0 | Is Austin Frereck. |
| 1:24.0 | He's a Yale Agricultural and Antitrust Policy Fellow, also the author of the book Barron's Money, Power and the Corruption of America's Food Industry. Awesome. Welcome to the show. It's good to have you on. Yeah, thanks again for having me on. It's such an honor. |
| 1:35.1 | So what does it look like in practical terms, consolidation in American food? For most people, it usually means higher prices in the grocery store. I mean, we shouldn't be |
| 1:45.2 | shocked by this. Concentrated markets gouge. That's what they do. Say more. To me, the best |
| 1:51.4 | example is the meat industry. I mean, it's almost like every month there's a new allegation |
| 1:55.4 | of price fixing in some protein market. The meat markets now are more concentrated than they've |
| 2:00.1 | ever been. It's more |
| 2:01.0 | concentrated than when Upton Sinclair wrote the jungle. And that's why, I mean, we see rampant |
| 2:05.6 | abuse everywhere with labor during COVID and then with the use of child labor in these |
| 2:09.6 | slaughterhouses. You say it's so matter-of-factly. And yet, in theory, we have laws |
... |
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