Journalist Says We're 'Basically Guinea Pigs' for a New Form of Industrialized Food

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Tonya Mosley. Sixteen years after "Food, Inc.," investigative journalist Eric Schlosser, along with bestselling author Michael Pollan, are back with "Food, Inc. 2," a sequel to the documentary that sparked a national conversation about the economic, environmental, and health impacts of our industrialized food system. "Food, Inc. 2" focuses on corporate consolidation, which Schlosser reports gained steam during the pandemic.

He's been reporting for years on how a handful of companies now control our nation's food system, stifling competition in ways not seen, he says, since the great trust and monopolies of the late 1890s. His latest article for The Atlantic, titled "Do We Really Want A Food Cartel?," delves into how mergers and acquisitions have created a market that is inefficient, barely regulated, unfair and even dangerous. Schlosser has written several books, including "Fast Food Nation," "Reefer Madness" and "Command And Control."

Eric Schlosser, welcome back to FRESH AIR.

ERIC SCHLOSSER: Thanks for having me.

MOSLEY: Well, you and Michael Pollan initially didn't want to do a sequel to "Food, Inc." Is that right?

SCHLOSSER: Yeah. I mean, we both have written about food and then moved on to other subjects. And, you know, I liked the film "Food, Inc." I think it had an impact, and I think it was very well done by the director, Robby Kenner. And then the pandemic happened. And we were...

MOSLEY: What did you see come out of the pandemic that changed your mind?

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