The Food IS the Crime: A Focus on Food as “Food Crime”

Matthew Robinson, PhD

Professor, Government and Justice Studies, Appalachian State University, 350-F Anne Belk Hall, 224 Joyce Lawrence Lane, Boone, North Carolina 28608, ASU Box 32107, Boone, NC 28608, (828) 262-6560

Abstract:

In this paper, the author introduces the reader to the term food crime. After a literature review focusing on scholarship that has been done in the food crime area, the author illustrates what is particularly dangerous about American food, especially ultra-processed foods high in salt, sugar, fat, and additives. The purpose of the paper is to refocus the food crime literature on problems with food itself by conducting a literature review of scholarship on food contents. The major finding of the paper is that the typical American diet is associated with more death and illness than all street crime combined, and this fact alone should make the paper of interest to criminologists.

Keyword:

Food crime, food, ultra-processed food, salt, sugar, fat