Yesterday, Eater published an extensive piece which provides an inside look at Monstanto, one of the biggest players in the global food industry. Author Jesse Hirsch was taken to what he calls a 'journalism boot camp.' Over the course of four days, he and 20 other journalists took part in a journalism program in Missouri which focused on food safety and agriculture. He described it as:
"...a four-day journalism program on food and agriculture, put on by the National Press Foundation (NPF), whose mission is to provide a variety of educational programs for journalists."
However Hirsch concedes that the main reason that he and his colleagues chose to take part in the event was the nine hour tour of Monsanto's research campus in Chesterfield, Missouri.
He then proceeds to give a background on the company sharing links to articles such as this one, which labels Monstanto: "The World's Most Evil Corporation."
Hirsch and his fellow journalists were taken on a tour of the premises. They were shown the labs and other facilities and given full license to take photos. Here's what he said about the experience:
Our lab tour was predictably safe, a choreographed traipse through Monsanto's less provocative projects (eg, manipulating soil microbes). It was all very Epcot Center - "The Future of Food is Now!" One of our only detours from the "standard" schoolkid tour was a visit to a lab, where we were shown how corn is genetically modified.
However Hirsch mentions the high number of people monitoring their every move:
"at one point I counted the communications reps ringing our meeting room - there were 20, one for each fellow. Anytime we went anywhere, someone was watching, including a steady line of minders between the meeting room and the bathroom (one fellow was pretty sure a handler followed him in)."
To read about the rest of the tour check out Eater.com
