Introduction

It is no accident that many published articles aboutfood, food processing and food distribution fail toreference the crimes and harms committed by the foodindustry – that is, the darker side of food (seeHoltzman, 2013). Nonetheless, as this volumeoutlines, there are a myriad of ways in whichfoodstuffs and food processes are entwined withimmoral, unjust, harmful and illegal (in)actions.This chapter focuses on the forms of activism andfood movements that react to these crimes and harms,including retort and backlash by food corporations.The first part of the chapter conceptualises thecontemporary global food system as the ‘risky foodregime’ and outlines its role in the production offood crimes and harms, and the consequences onfoodstuffs and consumers. Grounded in this context,the chapter then includes a sketch of how variousagents and organisations respond to these problems,including how food corporations counter these foodmovements and food activism through specific defencestrategies. The chapter closes with a discussion ofhow the ‘food police’ are mitigating – that is,threatening – food choice, and argues that foodcorporations are simultaneously (and ironically) keyfacilitators of food crime and the food police.

A risky food regime

The way humanity relates to food has shifted over time,across cultures, and continues to be a largelyheterogeneous personal experience for individuals.However, many researchers analysing the structuralpatterns of production and consumption argue thatthe current food system can be broadly characterisedas a corporate-industrial food regime or era. Basedon the work of Friedmann and McMichael (1989),McMichael (2009) defines the contemporary foodsystem, which originated in the 1970s and gainedtraction in the 1980s, as being global in scope andexpressed by trends of national deregulation ofproduction systems. Termed the ‘corporate foodregime’, it is characterised by food companies andagribusinesses holding and wielding increasing poweracross food chains (McMichael, 2009; Clendenning etal, 2016), where ‘agrofood corporations are themajor agents attempting to regulate agrofoodconditions’ (Friedmann, 2003, p 52). Such corporateorganisation is maintained by what Pechlaner andOtero (2010) call ‘neoregulation’, where statesactively facilitate the self-regulating mechanism ofthe economic market, producing a ‘neoliberal foodregime’ encompassing both private and publicsectors. Research supports this classification, withparticular attention to the increasing role ofretailers.