JOANNA

BLYTHMAN WRITING.COM

Joanna's new book, Swallow This:

On Sale 26th February 2015 (Paperback and Kindle editions)

Even with 25 years experience as a journalist and investigator of the food chain, Joanna Blythman still felt she had unanswered questions about the food we consume every day. How ‘natural’ is the process for making a ‘natural’ flavouring? What, exactly, is modified starch, and why is it an ingredient in so many foods? What is done to pitta bread to make it stay ‘fresh’ for six months? And why, when you eat a supermarket salad, does the taste linger in your mouth for several hours after?

Swallow This is a fascinating exploration of the food processing industry and its products – not just the more obvious ready meals, chicken nuggets and tinned soups, but the less overtly industrial – washed salads, smoothies, yoghurts, cereal bars, bread, fruit juice, prepared vegetables. Forget illegal, horse-meat-scandal processes, every step in the production of these is legal, but practised by a strange and inaccessible industry, with methods a world-away from our idea of domestic food preparation, and obscured by technical speak, unintelligible ingredients manuals, and clever labelling practices.

Determined to get to the bottom of the impact the industry has on our food, Joanna Blythman has gained unprecedented access to factories, suppliers and industry insiders, to give an utterly eye-opening account of what we’re really swallowing.

Earlier Books:

What to Eat: Food that’s good for your health, pocket and plate.

Bad Food Britain: How a Nation Ruined Its Appetite.

London: Fourth Estate. 2006.

Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets.

London: Fourth Estate. 2004.

How to Avoid GM Food: Hundreds of Brands,

Products and Ingredients to Avoid.

London: Fourth Estate. 1999.

The Food Our Children Eat:

How to Get Children to Like Good Food.

London: Fourth Estate. 1999

The Food We Eat:

The Book You Cannot Afford to Ignore

(2nd ed. ed.). London: Penguin. 1998.