commentaries

About 30 years ago, after a speech at Yale, my father asked the then chairman of Cargill why the company had discontinued making a soy product that did not produce flatulence (Textratine). He got the typical useless answer. Now Cargill is pushing Palm oil, which in about 1972, I identified as a crop the government of Venezuela should not consider to be a food product, appropriate for export to the United States. Palm oil, and coconut oil are highly saturated - worse than butter - and are not part of a healthy diet. They add significantly to national health care costs and contribute to the early deaths of people too ignorant to avoid consuming them. Cargill should be ashamed. It has a massive research department and its employees ought to be capable of reading the most basis food science data. The wealthy aunts and uncles who own Cargill and their heirs, are responsible and are complicit, even if they pretend they don't know it.

Cargill supplies the markets, it does not dictate what to buy. The market for trans-fats dried up. Palm oil is the next choice of those who want to scream "NO TRANS-FAT" on their packages. Hate the message, not the messenger.

Thanks Steve. Another problem I have with Cargill is that they are active beneficiaries of the corrupt lending systems of the IMF and the World Bank. Loans from these institutions to borrowing nations come with incredibly nonsustainable and cutlurally destructive conditions and terms. These loans are the vehicle through whcih industrialized agriculture displaces native crops and formerly sustainable local food production. They require multinational corporations to do the work and prohibit local companies from recieving money from these loans. All of this for the false hope that their expoprt of new crops produced with huge inputs of petrochemicals in the form of gas, herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers will bring them economic growth. Unfortunately, this growth is only realized in the multinationals that move into control the system. Look no further than Greece which is now trading in millenia old olive groves for new crops produced under the Western mechanized model. Thier land is being sold to foreign agricutlural companies and their culture will be diminished through the loss of their traditioinal agricutlure. A country that once had no problem producing one of the healthiest diets in the world will see its ability to provide local food destroyed. When I see Cargill actively attempt to reverse this destructive process for the planet, I'll take their claims of being a sustainable agricutlure participant seriously.

Re: "Palm oil, and coconut oil are highly saturated - worse than butter - and are not part of a healthy diet." This was common knowledge not so long ago. Because of the health concerns you mention, consumers were advised to read labels and to avoid buying products with palm oil and coconut oil. People who don't learn history and consumers who don't trust science are often duped by corporate shills who are always looking for ways to maximize profits.

So food companies load their products with GMOs, trans-fats, and high-fructose corn syrup knowing they are unhealthy for their consumers. They work overtime to change packaging laws so consumers can't tell what's in the products. They only change (kicking and screaming) when enough consumers finally catch on to the con. Now Cargill wants to push palm oil in the same way. Why can't (or won't) Cargill just do the right thing and use a different kind of oil? Seems pretty simple.

Why can't (or won't) Cargill just do the right thing and use a different kind of oil? - - - Isn't the kind of oil up to the ones who bake / make the food?????