Catholics should care about what they eat: as you bite into your Big Mac, do you find yourself wrestling with your conscience over issues like fair wages for farmworkers or the corporatization of our food supply? One conscientious consumer argues that, for Catholics, eating should be a moral act.

SEVERAL YEARS AGO I WAS AT A PARTY WITH A FRIEND who had recently become a vegetarian. As she moved through the buffet line, avoiding the meat and piling on the fresh fruit, another friend asked about the motivation for her new lifestyle. Had she adopted vegetarianism for perceived health benefits--or was this some sort of animal-rights kick?

"Both," the new vegetarian responded. She certainly cared about her own health, but she also loved animals and cared about their welfare as well.

"Well, did you ever think about the working conditions of the person who picked those grapes on your plate?" the other friend asked. "Do you care more about animals than people?"

Taken aback, my friend admitted that she hadn't really considered the farm laborers who had picked the grapes or the workers who processed them for sale at the grocery store.

Even though I was an outside observer, that incident made me think about the entire notion of the ethics of food, from its production all the way to its consumption. I soon discovered that I could purchase grapes grown organically, an agricultural method that respects both the person harvesting the food and the environment in which it is grown.

As I educated myself more and more about the food I was purchasing for my family and me, I became convinced that, as the National Catholic Rural Life Conference says, "eating is a moral act." As Catholics, we must care about what we eat, and we ought to change eating habits that may have unintended immoral consequences.

Most of us know that the nutritional choices we make every single day affect our own health and well-being. That is one good reason for eating healthful food. Most of us also know that our natural resources are affected by our food choices. This concern for God's creation is why some of us look for tins of "dolphin safe" tuna or purchase organic food. Many of us are unaware, however, that our food choices, made every single day, also affect the human dignity of many others. As Catholics, we should care about what we eat for that reason most of all.

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ASK OURSELVES when we sit down to the table every day is "How did this food get to me?" In past generations, when a much higher percentage of people grew most of their own food, that question was easily answered. Today it is not so easy.

Because of that difficulty many good and moral people go strictly for convenience. They pick up shrink-wrapped packages of precut meat at the grocery store without bothering to find out how the meat was processed--and by whom--before it arrived there. Children and adults alike casually eat junk food loaded with unnatural ingredients, overlooking the obesity epidemic in our country and other detrimental effects of highly processed food because all junk food is convenient, some of it tastes good, and it is hard to say no to our kids (and to ourselves). Families pressed for time stop at fast-food restaurants and never consider the impact this industry has on so many other human lives and the environment.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about one quarter of all workers in the meatpacking industry suffer illness or injury as a result of their work, making it the most dangerous job in America. This is primarily due to the emphasis in slaughterhouses on speed, which of course equals profit. At IBP, which along with ConAgra and Excel is one of the three meatpacking giants, only one third of the workers are unionized, and most nonunion workers are recent immigrants.

The inhumane working conditions under which meatpacking employees labor have been meticulously researched and well documented in Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation (HarperCollins). Schlosser also describes the mistreatment of those who work in the fast-food service sector and explores the entire question of food safety.

Although I would never accept one book as the source of all my information, it was after reading this one, and in conjunction with other information I discovered, that I decided (much to my three children's chagrin) that I could no longer eat at McDonald's or any other major fast-food chain in good conscience. Learn about how fast-food companies operate and where the food you eat there comes from, and then ask yourself, "Can I still follow the Golden Rule and eat at the Golden Arches?"

Boycotting Big Macs, of course, is not the only solution. Most of the food available in regular grocery stores also comes from some sector of agribusiness that often places profit before human dignity. Corporate-owned "factory farms," in their quest for larger yields, resort to genetically modified crops, the negative effects of which are currently unknown, or increasing pesticide use, the negative effects of which are clearly known.

Cesar Chavez, who in the 1960s brought the plight of farmworkers to national attention with unionization campaigns and boycotts, was especially concerned with the dangers of pesticides to farmworkers and the environment. Chavez said, "The evil [of pesticides] is far greater than even I had thought it to be; it threatens to choke out the life of our people and also the life system that supports us all."

According to a 1994 article in the Observer, "farmworkers' health problems ... include an infant mortality rate 25 percent higher than the national average, a life expectancy of just 49 years, parasitic infections due to unsanitary conditions, and exposure to toxic pesticides"

Growing tasty, nutritious food without pesticides--a basic tenet or organic farming--is possible, it is just more costly. As Catholic consumers we have the responsibility to purchase not the cheapest food, but the most ethical food, even if it means sacrificing to be able to pay for it. The good news is that as more people buy organic, its price becomes more affordable for others. This is another reason we are obligated to buy organic food--so that the economically disadvantaged can afford to enjoy its health benefits, too.

IN THE PAST DECADE OR SO THERE HAS BEEN INCREASED SCRUTINY about where our clothing comes from, with the intent of eliminating the production of clothes by sweatshop labor. I wholeheartedly endorse this movement and shun the Nike "swoosh," but I argue that the time has come to place the same scrutiny on food production. Most of us buy food much more often than we buy clothes; for many of us food is a daily purchase.

Just recently the U.S. bishops saw fit to pen a pastoral letter on this topic. In "For I Was Hungry and You Gave Me Food" released in November, they challenge lack of awareness. "When we go to the supermarket, we rarely think about where our food comes from, who produces it, who harvests it, or what it takes to process, package, and distribute it ... We call Catholics to think more about and act on these important but often neglected concerns in light of our faith."

For our daily bread, we can and must choose to buy food from ethical companies, as the bishops suggest. It can start with a few simple steps, such as:

* Find a local farmer's market and buy your produce there in season.

* Buy organic whenever possible--either through a food co-op or, as is increasingly available, at your local grocery store.

* Avoid fast-food restaurants.

* Seek out fair-trade products, such as coffee, whenever possible. Many of these are available on the Internet.

IT IS NOT ALWAYS EASY FOR ME TO CARE ABOUT WHAT I EAT, AND then to do something about it. It means prioritizing our family's resources--more money spent on the grocery bill because I buy organic means less money for other things. Buying from my food co-op, which requires placing an order two weeks before delivery, is not as convenient as running out to the local grocery store. I also have to plan ahead to make purchases when I am traveling near a natural foods store that carries things like fair-trade coffee.

I have to allow more time to prepare meals from fresh food because I'm consciously trying to reduce our reliance on prepackaged items. Because I try to buy locally grown produce, we tend to eat "in season" and cannot always have what we want whenever we want it (no strawberries in January in Illinois!).

When going on long car trips, I pack lunch in our cooler because I don't want to stop at the restaurants that line the interstate.

Because it is hard and because I am human, I am not always successful at eating morally. I will continue to try to do so, however, because in my heart (and stomach) I know it is the right thing to do. In Micah 6:8, we learn what the God of the Old Testament requires of us.

I challenge you to find out more about where your food comes from and then add one more commandment to those identified by Micah: Act justly, love tenderly, walk humbly, and eat ethically.

Advance copies of Sounding Board am mailed to a sample of U.S. CATHOLIC subscribers. Their answers to questions on the topic of this Sounding Board article and a representative selection of their comments follow in Feedback.

By AMY SCHLUMPF MANION, a librarian at Aurora University in Illinois and the coauthor of Married Life: An Inside Look (St. Mary's Press, 2002).