Guardian examines U.S. food aid program

The Guardian has analyzed "hundreds of food aid contracts awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2010-11 to show where the money goes," the newspaper reports. "Two-thirds of food for the billion-dollar U.S. food aid program last year was bought from just three U.S.-based multinationals," ADM, Cargill, and Bunge, the newspaper notes, adding that "these three agribusinesses sold the U.S. government 1.2 million tons of food, or almost 70 percent of the total bought" (Provost/Lawrence, 7/18). In a separate article, the Guardian writes, "Food aid has also become a valuable business for a variety of smaller food companies," as well as shipping firms and non-governmental organizations (Provost, 7/19). In an interactive feature, the Guardian "[e]xplore[s] which companies sold food aid products to the government last year, what was bought, and where it was sent" (Provost/Hughes, 7/20). And another article describes how the newspaper analyzed the data (Hughes, 7/19).