At the time George Orwell wrote his famous essay, In Defence of English Cooking, in 1945, the main problems with our food was that it was ridiculed by Europeans and supplies were limited.
Sixty years on, with so much food available that even our animals are obese, the problem is more subtle, infinitely larger in scale, and one that threatens our cosy little world of over-consumption.
Since Friday, more than 350 food products have been removed from shop shelves after suggestions they were contaminated with the redcolouring Sudan 1. Apparently, Sudan 1 in high doses can cause cancer and is thus deemed unsuitable for human consumption.
It is a story that has all the ingredients (yes, pun intended) for the type of health scare that we in Britain, and particularly those with a preference for middle-market tabloids, do rather well.
If we believed everything we read about the food on our shelves, half of us would have starved and the other half would be embracing anorexia as a lifestyle choice.
However, while we see these scares for the hyperboles that they are, we ignore the real problems that have turned us into human guinea-pigs.
The implication seems to be that if something kills us quickly, that is bad; but if something takes 20 years to kill us, that is okay.
How many of us, when buying products, stop to think about the preservatives, colourings, and flavourings that are thrown into our food nowadays?
How many of us have stopped to think whether artificial sweeteners are really more beneficial than the sugar they have replaced?
Most artificial additives are given names that begin with "E". Not all are of dubious origin - in fact, some are merely vitamins with scientific names - but many are believed to provide health risks if consumed in high doses over long periods of time.
The eminent doctor, Giraud W Campbell, attributes the dramatic surge in arthritis and rheumatism to the increase in the production of processed foods.
Too many of us buy packaged food and ignore the labels. We neither know nor care what those "Es" are and what they do. We only care if the food looks good, tastes good, and falls within our budget.
And all the while, we are eating less and less fruit and vegetables, and more and more processed foods that no self-respecting insect would touch.
We opt for the cheaper, farmed fish, when the more expensive organic variety is often more wholesome. We never ask why salmon, once the preserve of the prosperous, is so cheap these days.
Too often we are content to give credence to the mantra of Mark Twain, who said: "Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside."
The food available in Britain has never been more rich in its variety, more agreeable in its taste, and more effortless to acquire. Diseases are on the increase, too, but few of us stop to think of the possible correlation.
