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was cultivated in China over 5,000 years ago. But until 60 years
ago, few people in the West knew much about it, let alone ate
it or grew it. Now it s one of the world s key food crops. Not only
does soya contribute the vast bulk of feeds for livestock, it s also
an ingredient in almost two-thirds of all processed food sold in
countries like the UK. Variously labelled as soya protein, hydro-
lysed vegetable protein, tvp, lecithin and much more besides, it
appears in everything from breakfast cereals and biscuits to
noodles, soups and ready meals.
Soya s meteoric rise began after the Second World War, when
German scientists found a way to get rid of soya oil s foul smell
and taste. Subsidised and promoted heavily by the US govern-
ment, American soya became a crucial part of the Marshall Plan
for the reconstruction of Europe. Soya soon became the domi-
nant feedstock for animals. From the 1960s on, soya has been
widely used in processed foods and its rise has been unstop-
pable. In 1965, world soya production was 30 million tonnes a
year. By 2005, it had reached 270 million tonnes, and it s still
rising.
Up until 2003, it was the USA that led the way with soya. Still
subsidised to the tune of billions of dollars a year, American soya
farmers exported their product around the world in huge quan-
tities. But in recent years, America has been overtaken by the
136 " 101 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FOOD
massive expansion of soya production in South America  espe-
cially Brazil and Argentina. And the growth here is accelerating,
prompting tremendous fears over the environmental conse-
quences. It s estimated that an area of the Amazon the size of
Britain could be cleared to make way for soya production by
2020. The worries are severe enough for even McDonald s to
issue a statement asking its suppliers not to feed its poultry on
Amazon soya.
In the 1990s, soya was promoted as a healthy option. Soya
milk in particular was advocated as the wholesome vegetarian
alternative to dairy milk, and the perfect source of calcium and
protein for those who are lactose intolerant. Indeed, in the USA,
30 40% of babies are raised on soya milk as a matter of course.
But in recent years, real doubts have been raised about just how
healthy soya is. In traditional Asian cooking, soy sauce is made
with long fermentation which reduces plant oestrogens and
other ingredients that work against nutrition, such as phytates
that block the enzymes that our bodies need to digest protein.
Modern fast soya processing methods cut out this long fermen-
tation, so the oestrogens and anti-nutrients are left in place.
Some scientists now believe that all these soya hormones
could be harmful. In 2005, one scientist s research suggested
that women hoping to get pregnant should avoid soya. Other
research suggests that soya may interfere with testosterone
levels. And a report by the UK Royal Society concluded that soya
milk should not be recommended for infants, even if they had a
dairy milk allergy.
101 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FOOD " 137
74. The average American consumes 3,699
calories of food energy a day
ood energy consumption varies widely around the world. As
Fyou might expect, it s pretty high in European countries 
typically well over 3,250 calories per person a day. But it reaches
its peak in the USA, where the average person is eating almost
3,700 calories a day. That s considerably more than twice what
they eat in countries like Somalia, where average daily consump-
tion is less than 1,600 calories per person and most people have
much less. Whereas a huge proportion of people are overweight
in the developed world, over half of all children are considered
underweight in India.
In the UK, the government issues Guideline Daily Amounts
(GDAs) recommending daily intakes for energy, fats and saturated
fats suitable for average adults over eighteen. GDAs recommend
that women eat 2,000 calories of energy, 70g of fat and 20g of
saturated fats, and that men eat 2,500 calories of energy, 95g
of fat and 30g of saturated fat. So the average person in the
developed world is eating 30 60% more energy food than they
need. No wonder, then, that obesity is a growing problem. In the
Third World, however, the average person is eating 30 50% less
than they need, which is why of course so many suffer from
malnutrition.
138 " 101 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FOOD
75. Almost 10 million live cows, 17 million pigs
and 18 million sheep are transported around
the world every year
he trade in live farm animals is much bigger than you might
Tthink. Cattle, pigs and sheep are herded into trucks, trains
and ships in vast numbers and shipped off over huge distances.
Every week, for instance, over 100,000 sheep are sent off from
Australia alone. Many of them are bound for the Middle East,
ready for slaughter in accordance with halal procedures. Saudi
Arabia alone imports almost 5 million live sheep for slaughter in
this way each year.
Despite stringent regulations to ensure the welfare of animals
in transit, there have been many doubts about whether live
animals should be transported long distances at all. Over 2,000
of the sheep leaving Australia for the Middle East each week,
according Erik Millstone and Tim Lang s Atlas of Food, will die
of disease and injuries sustained en route. The animals will be
in transit for a month or more, travelling for days across land in
Australia to reach a port, then spending three weeks crammed
into the hold of a ship in near-darkness, and then left in a feedlot
awaiting slaughter.
Although the shipping of live animals to the Middle East for
halal slaughter is by far the biggest element of the trade in live-
stock, there is considerable movement of live animals on land
as well. Within the USA, animals are often carried by road for
thousands of miles from where they are reared to where they are
fattened and slaughtered. In Europe, 2 million live pigs, cattle,
101 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FOOD " 139
sheep and horses are taken on long journeys each year, and 1.5
million pigs are transported from the Netherlands to Spain for
fattening and slaughtering. Journeys from the north to the south
of Europe can last 40 or 50 hours, all of which time the animals
are packed into the same truck.
Opponents of the trade in livestock believe that live animals
should never be transported. The animals should, they say,
always be slaughtered near where they are reared and only the
meat transported. Transporting live animals is also much more
expensive than transporting meat. But there is a premium on
 home-killed meat in France that makes it worth the cost. More-
over, slaughterhouses need to stay busy at times outside the
local breeding season, and importing live animals may be the
only way to do this.
140 " 101 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FOOD
76. If a meat-packing plant has surplus meat at
the end of the day, it can put a new use-by
date on the pack and send it out the next day
n these days of pre-packed and preserved food, there are often
Ino obvious clues to lack of freshness, like the smell of meat or
the browning of fruit. Instead, we have to rely on the use-by and
best-before dates marked on the pack. But these are not always
as reassuringly reliable as they seem, and they can be confusing.
In British supermarkets, for instance, food may be marked with [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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