Why Our Food Is Making Us Ill

Sr Angelika Laub OP: Point of Reflection

Traditional African agriculture is known for its methods of promoting health and its conservation of diversity of vegetables, crops, indigenous fruit trees and medicinal herbs. This tradition has been destroyed in recent years by the introduction of industrial farming.

Industrial farming has been unleashed on African soils by powerful international companies in cooperation with some governments, unfortunately also South Africa’s. It is part of the extraction of resources — mineral, medicinal, fibre, genetic resources, and food — by large international companies and takes place within the framework of neo-colonialism.

It is the cause of the loss of the natural fertility, of the biodiversity of African crops, vegetables, fruit trees, indigenous seed, and seed systems. It makes use of imported seed (such as maize and soya) whose cultivation requires extensive use of chemical fertilisers, insecticides and herbicides. These are poisonous to all life in and above the soil, with the exception of the crop plants — due to genetic modification of the seed of the crop.

The vast areas of land, and the use of the huge machinery in agriculture, continue to lead to the displacement of small farmers from their lands, often forcing them to join urban slums. The huge amounts of poisonous chemicals used also contribute to the pollution of our rivers, lakes and oceans.

It is by now a well-known and disturbing fact that whatever poisons our soils and water also poison our food, including the staples in the diet of millions of African people.

Comfy but no nutrition

In recent months, largely through the research of the African Biodiversity Institute, it has also become known that much of the food sold in our supermarkets, imported or locally produced, is of low nutritious quality. Such food offers urban people in particular an affordable and easily accessible source of food. It is ultra-processed food (UPF), which is comfortable to use and tasty to our palate, and often ready for consumption, such as fast food. However, it offers none or hardly any nutritive value to our bodies.

UPFs have led to malnutrition, stunted growth of unborn life and of children. Recent research on the use of ultra-processed foods in the US has also shown that its continued use contributes to the loss of cognitive functioning of the brain.  These foods are bare of micronutrients that are essential for the functioning of all organs and the immune system, affecting the wellbeing of the person.

The impact of UPFs is exacerbated by the use of cool drinks, such as cola, energy drinks and so on, which are often high in sugar or sugar-substitutes but have no nutritional value. That even applies to many highly processed fruit juices.

The pope’s appeal

Pope Francis, in his documents on the environment and in his talks and sermons, keeps stressing that the care and love for our body and for our environment are part of being Christian and of our mission. The destruction of our soils, crops and herbs is a continuation of the injustices, not to say crimes, inflicted on African lands.

We are called upon to reclaim and heal our soil by supporting the Agro-ecological Movement which seeks to reclaim ancestral agriculture, using scientific information while honouring the value systems of our cultures. You can read more about it on the website of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation: fao.org/agroecology/overview/en/

Some of us can make a start ourselves. In order to promote our own health, we should support organic projects and start our own organically managed vegetable gardens.