It is the most "essential" business there is: feeding people. So why do grocery stores pay people so poorly, why are the profit margins so tight, and what's really IN those packages on the shelves?
These questions and more get a thorough examination by Benjamin Lorr, who takes a muckraking approach to the places we buy food, and the places that supply them, in a new book.
The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket visits stores and farms and with workers, to get a picture of what it takes to keep the food-supply chain connected. We visit with the author.