What Was Once a Free Market Becomes an Oligopoly

 

Remember the Book "Fast Food Nation"?

Twenty-five years ago, his book Fast Food Nation outlined the dangers of a food system controlled by a handful of multinational corporations.  Now the author investigated the outbreaks of bird flu and of E. coli. Everyone should also be concerned about some of the food sold in grocery stores:

This time it is not only about McDonald's & Co:

"For example, a report by the UK Health Security Agency said: “epidemiological analyses provided robust evidence that pre-packaged sandwiches containing lettuce were the likely vehicle of an E.coli infection.”

Eric Schlosser also wrote in his Guardian article about the dangers of bird flu: "Bird flu is a zoonosis – an infectious disease that can be transmitted from vertebrate animals to human beings."

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Consumers now possess merely an illusion of choice.

• "Today, four companies control 56% of the worldwide market for seeds and 61% of the market for pesticides. Five companies control about 70% to 90% of the worldwide trade in grains.
  
  
• Four companies control more than 80% of the US supply of beef, 70% of its pork and 60% of its market for chicken. Four companies control about 75% of the US market for yoghurt, 79% of its market for beer.
  
  
• Three firms control 93% of the market for carbonated soft drinks. Factory farming has extended monopoly power even to commercial livestock genetics. Only two companies provide the breeding stock for more than 90% of the world’s egg-laying hens and turkeys.

"When large corporations gain too much power, the prices offered to suppliers, the wages paid to workers, and the prices charged to consumers are no longer driven by market forces. Government agencies become “captive” to the companies they’re supposed to be regulating." 

Eric Schlosser's article is a MUST-READ if you are concerned about your own health:

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/jan/06/we-still-live-in-fast-food-nation-eric-schlosser

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