A Sentinel investigation in four chapters

What Does a Cheap Meal Cost Us?

America is stripping away the protections around its food — the workers who produce it, the inspectors who watch it, the citizen's right to sue over what's in it — while the interests that make the chemicals and treat the resulting sickness are shielded and enriched. Risk flows down to the least powerful; profit flows up to the protected. And the United States is doing it nearly alone among wealthy nations: as its peers tighten, it loosens.

1. Chapter One The Hands That Feed Us Immigration raids are emptying America's fields and packing plants — and the government is letting the ones that remain run faster, with fewer inspectors.
2. Chapter Two See No Evil As the workforce that grows and cuts America’s food thins, the agencies meant to watch it are being cut too — while the drug side of the FDA, paid for by industry, keeps its footing.
3. Chapter Three A Pretty Penny What goes into American food is decided increasingly by the companies that sell it and reviewed by almost no one — and the industry that makes it is winning immunity from the people it harms.
4. Chapter Four The Harvest The bill for cheap food does not vanish. It flows downhill to the people who eat and get sick — and uphill to the industries that profit at both ends, the chemicals going in and the drugs sold to treat what the food does.