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I'm a researcher in the areas of the sociology of food, science, technology and ecology. My research centres on the development of a framework for understanding the ways in which science and technology shape and transform structural, cultural and ecological relations in the contemporary era, particularly with respect to systems of food production and consumption. My work focuses on a range of contemporary technosciences, including the new biotechnologies, nanotechnologies and nutrition science.
My research on the agri-food system includes work on theorising and categorising forms of agricultural production; genetically modified foods; nano-foods; food processing and marketing, such as 'functional foods'; and ways of understanding the relationship between food and health, including the rise of what I call the nutritionally-reductive paradigm or ideology of 'nutritionism'.
I'm currently a Research Associate in the Globalism Research Centre at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
I have also campaigned with Friends of the Earth (Australia) on some of these issues, including on the GM Food Campaign, the Nanotechnology Project, and the Sustainable Food and Agriculture Campaign.
• with Kristen Lyons, "Nanotechnology and the Techno-Corporate Agri-Food Paradigm", in G.Lawrence, K. Lyons & T. Wallington (eds.), Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainability: New Challenges, Future Options, Earthscan: London (2010). [Download PDF] [Earthscan website]
• with Kristen Lyons, "Under the Regulatory Radar? Nanotechnologies and their Impacts for Rural Australia", in Tracking Rural Change: Community, Policy and Technology in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, edited by Francesca Merlan and David Raftery, Australian National University E Press: Canberra, 2009, pp.151-171. [Download PDF]
• Kouichi Hirota from Japan's National Institute of Health and Nutrition has translated my essay "Sorry Marge" into Japanese, and the translation is now available on their website. [Download PDF] [View on NIHN website]
• A major report on nano-foods prepared by Georgia Miller and Rye Senjen for the Friends of the Earth (Australia) Nanotechnology Project was released in March 2008. The report, Out of the Laboratory and into the Food Chain: Nanotechnology in Food and Agriculture, was also released simultaneously by Friends of the Earth Europe and Friends of the Earth USA. [Download PDF]
•"Functional Foods or Functionally Marketed Foods?: A Critique of, and Alternatives to, the Category of Functional Foods", Public Health Nutrition, Vol.11 (5), 2008. [Download PDF]
[A critique of definitions of "functional foods", and alternative categories proposed, such as "functionally-marketed foods".]
•"On the Ideology of Nutritionism", Gastronomica, Vol.8, No.1, February, 2008, pp.39-48. [Download PDF]
[The ideology of nutritionism defined, and a number of related concepts and categories introduced.]
• "The future of food: where a hamburger is not what it seems", The Age, Op-Ed, September 19, 2007. [Download PDF] [View on Age website]
[On functional foods, functional hamburgers, funky pizza, and health claims.]
• "The artificial taming of the fat scare", The Sydney Morning Herald, Op-Ed, May 11, 2007. [Download PDF] [View on SMH website]
[On trans-fatty acids, and how the "good and bad fats" discourse has played into the hands of the food industry.]
• "High in protein, low in fat and too good to be true", The Sydney Morning Herald, Op-Ed, April 7, 2006. [Download PDF] [View on SMH website]
[On the ideology of nutritionism.]
• "Reducing and Integrating", Letter to the Editor, Public Health Nutrition, Vol.9, No.1, 2006, pp.95-96.
[On nutritionism and the New Nutrition Science project.]
• "Labels: An unhealthy trend", The Age, Op-Ed, December 30, 2005.
[On the introduction of health claims on food labels in Australia. Also published in The Sydney Morning Herald, Op-Ed, December 30, 2005.]
• "Engineering the Food Chain", Arena Magazine, 77, June-July, 2005, pp.37-39.
[On nutritionism and genetically modified foods with modified nutrient profiles.]
• "A Diet Thin on Science", with Rosemary Stanton, The Age, Op-Ed, August 29, 2005.
[On the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet and nutritional reductionism. Also published in The Sydney Morning Herald, Op-Ed, August 29, 2005; & in Australasian Science, October, 2005, pp.37-38.]
• "Sorry Marge", Meanjin, Vol.61, No.4, 2002, pp.108-116.
[On the ideology of nutritionism.]
• "Time to End Industrial Cuisine", The Age, Op-Ed, December 27, 1997.
[On nutritional reductionism.]
• "Industrial Cuisine and the Scientific Management of Nutrition, Green Left Weekly, August 25, 1993, p.12-13.
[On nutritional reductionism.]
• with Kristen Lyons, "Nanotechnology and the Techno-Corporate Agri-Food Paradigm", in G.Lawrence, K. Lyons & T. Wallington (eds.), Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainability: New Challenges, Future Options, Earthscan: London (2010). [Download PDF] [Earthscan website]
• with Kristen Lyons, "Under the Regulatory Radar? Nanotechnologies and their Impacts for Rural Australia", in Tracking Rural Change: Community, Policy and Technology in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, edited by Francesca Merlan and David Raftery, Australian National University E Press: Canberra, 2009, pp.151-171. [Download PDF]
•"The Emerging Nano-Corporate Paradigm: Nanotechnology and the Transformation of Nature, Food and Agri-Food Systems", with Kristen Lyons, International Journal for the Sociology of Agriculture and Food, Vol.15, No.2, 2007, pp.22-44. [Dowload PDF] [View on IJSAF website]
[On the introduction of nano-foods across the food system, including the functional food applications of nano-processing techniques.]
• "From Techno-Corporate Food to Alternative Agri-Food Movements", Local Global, Vol.4, 2007, pp.112-140.
[An overview of the global food system.]
• "Food production must not be controlled by a few corporations", The Age, Op-Ed, August 17, 2007.
[On the lifting of the bans on genetically-modified canola crops in Australia.]
• "Engineering the Food Chain", Arena Magazine, 77, June-July, 2005, pp.37-39.
[On nutritionally-engineered, genetically-modified foods.]
• "The Precise Problem with GM Foods", The Age, Op-Ed, April 14, 2000.
[On GM foods.]
• "Colonizing the Seed", Arena Magazine, No. 36, Aug-Sept, 1998, pp. 41-44.
[On genetically modified foods. Also published in Biodiversity, Vol.2, No.2, May, 2001, pp.35-38.]
• Colonizing the Seed: Genetic Engineering and Techno-Industrial Agriculture, Friends of the Earth: Melbourne, 1995, pp.48.
[On genetically modified foods and industrial agriculture.]
• "GM foods will not help feed the world", The Age, Op-Ed, July 8, 2003.
[On GM foods. Reprinted in: The Sydney Morning Herald, Op-Ed, July 10, 2003; Debating the Issues, ed. Justin Healey, Spinney Press, 2005, pp.85-86; Genetic Modification, ed. Justin Healey, Issues in Society, Spinney Press, Volume 203, 2004, pp.39-40.]
• "Integrating the Industrial Food System", Chain Reaction, No. 85, 2001.
[On GM foods.]
• "Uniting to Oppose Genetically Modified Food", Chain Reaction, Spring, 1999, pp.34-35.
[On GM foods.]
• "Sowing the Seeds of Disaster", The Age, Op-Ed, 31/12/97.
[On GM foods. Also published in The Sydney Morning Herald, Op-Ed, 1/1/98; New Vegetarian and Natural Health Magazine, Autumn, 1998, pp. 32-33.]
• "Sowing the Demon Seeds", The Age, Op-Ed, 7/6/99.
[On GM foods]
• "Consumers Need to Know What They Are Eating", The Age, Op-Ed, 4/5/98.
[On GM foods. Also published in Australasian Science, July, 1998, pp.15.]
• "Sowing the Seeds of Discontent", The Age, Op-Ed, July 25, 1996.
[On GM foods.]
• with Kristen Lyons, "Nanotechnology and the Techno-Corporate Agri-Food Paradigm", in G.Lawrence, K. Lyons & T. Wallington (eds.), Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainability: New Challenges, Future Options, Earthscan: London (2010). [Download PDF] [Earthscan website]
• with Kristen Lyons, "Under the Regulatory Radar? Nanotechnologies and their Impacts for Rural Australia", in Tracking Rural Change: Community, Policy and Technology in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, edited by Francesca Merlan and David Raftery, Australian National University E Press: Canberra, 2009, pp.151-171. [Download PDF]
•"The Emerging Nano-Corporate Paradigm: Nanotechnology and the Transformation of Nature, Food and Agri-Food Systems", with Kristen Lyons, International Journal for the Sociology of Agriculture and Food, Vol.15, No.2, 2007, pp.22-44. [Dowload PDF] [View on IJSAF website]
[On the introduction of nano-foods across the food system, including the functional food applications of nano-processing techniques.]
• "When Small Isn"t Beautiful", Arena Magazine, No.83, June-July, 2006.
[On nanotechnology.]
• "Nanotechnology and the Environment: The Nano-Atomic Reconstruction of Nature", Chain Reaction, No. 97, 2006, pp. 23- 26.
[On environmental implications of nanotechnology.]
• "Mega fear over something nano", The Age, Op-Ed, December 29, 2004.
[On nanotechnology. Also published in The Sydney Morning Herald, Op-Ed, January 5, 2005.
Dr Gyorgy Scrinis
Research Associate, Globalism Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
Email: gyorgy.scrinis@rmit.edu.au
Telephone: (mobile) 0431 986 965
Personal Website: www.gyorgyscrinis.com
RMIT University Website: www.rmit.edu.au/globalism
RMIT University Globalism Research Centre : www.rmit.edu.au/globalism
Friends of the Earth (Australia): www.foe.org.au/
Friends of the Earth (Australia) Nanotechnology Project: nano.foe.org.au/