Christophe Brusset is a former food trader. He spent years working very closely with the world of food engineering, before being disgusted by his unscrupulous practices and converting himself into a whistleblower, as reported by our colleagues from the New Republic. He subsequently published two books about it, titled You’re Mad to Swallow That and What’s Now, What Are We Eating?. Self-proclaimed “repentant of the agri-food industry”, he has, for 25 years, closed his eyes to the aberrations he was confronted with on a daily basis.
He is now committed to consumers, denouncing the practices of this merciless business through his books but also by speaking at the microphone of various media. He fights for consumer awareness as well as for more transparency on the part of producers, in their press releases and on their labels.
This specialist in food scams also has several tips to give on how to avoid as much as possible ingesting non-compliant products or additives that are harmful to our health. According to him, all additives beginning with an “E” followed by numbers are to be absolutely avoided. He cites the example of E466, often present in low-fat butters, and supposedly toxic.
In general, processed products should be avoided as much as possible. But to replace them, there is no choice: you simply have to invest time and energy in the kitchen. “When you have no choice, always go for products with the shortest ingredient lists,” he says. Here again, a downside that means that this strategy is not within everyone’s reach: these foods are often among the most expensive.
Find below the list of products most often subject to agrifood scams, which can prove dangerous in the long run, according to an interview with Christophe Brusset on Radio France.
