People often take in information without thinking about what it means or how valid it is. People also tend to consume food and beverages without thinking where it came from or how it was produced. The well-known saying, “do not believe everything you see and hear” is something more people should consider more often when thinking about the production and consumption of food in America. The American public is misinformed on many topics in the food industry. This can be compared to the message that the book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen, delivers about how the public is deceived in regards to history. One specific food lie is how the Corn Refiners Association wants the public to believe that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is the same as sugar and is perfectly healthy for consumption. As some research suggests, this is a faulty food assumption.
Patriotic textbooks “leave out anything that might reflect badly upon [them]” (Loewen 5). Loewen argues that “if textbooks allowed for controversy, they could show students which claims rest on strong evidence, which on softer ground” (Loewen 39). The textbooks want to be right for the sake of more simplistic information retention for students. Loewen says this was is “easier” (Loewen 41). This ideology is the same for the food industry. They want to be right for the sake of making a profit while maintaining calm and happy customers. This is what is easier for them. If the consumers saw products with a warning or cautionary label, they might think twice about purchasing that product and trusting that company. As for HFCS, why would the makers want to reveal that “when higher percentages of fructose are consumed, the liver becomes overworked and produces excess levels of uric ...
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... a Eurocentric view that ignores imperfections and covers up less than savory truths. Both of these instances show how the public is deceived about food and history. It takes a spark of curiosity, passion, and enlightenment to dig down into the depths of the truth. It is not an easy thing to do, but something more Americans could benefit from in their daily lives if they questioned more of what appeared to be true.
Works Cited
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. Print.
Parker, Hilary. "A Sweet Problem: Princeton Researchers Find That High-fructose Corn Syrup
Prompts Considerably More Weight Gain." News at Princeton University. Princeton
University, 22 Mar. 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2011.
Porter, Mary. "High Fructose Corn Syrup: Really the Same as Sugar?" FortHuntPatch. Patch
Network, 7 Nov. 2011. Web. 16 Nov. 2011.
The food that we as a nation consumes reflects the health and well being of the American people. We have become so accustomed to fast food and easy, unhealthy, diet choices that diseases like diabetes has become very prevalent and on the rise. One in every three Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes. In the film “Food Inc.” takes a look into a typical grocery store and reveals the illusion of variety. Most of the food in the industry leads back to corn. High fructose corn syrup, a sweetener made from corn starch, is found in many of the foods and beverages that we consume. High fructose corn syrup has been linked to metabolic diseases like obesity and diabetes. Corn has become very affordable and abundant and big food
Forristal, Linda. “The Murky World of High-Fructose Corn Syrup.” Westonaprice.org. Ed. Linda Forristal. 2003. 24 July 2008. .
Just like the kid that buys a sugary cereal just because it has Spongebob Squarepants on it, or like the person that goes to Disneyland to have fun but at end of that day, they can buy a churro. Parents also need to take a action in this too, just because you kid gives you a temper tantrum doesn’t mean that you need to buy them the candy they want in order for them to stop crying, and parents should also be informed of the things that their kids are consuming at their schools. Food companies should market or promote the TINY WORDS on the back of their product that informs all of the substances they used to make the product, to the consumer. Just like they would promote their food products to get consumers. Think about these following questions: What will you do to be informed of the chemicals used on the products you and your family consumes? Is it worth buying just because it has your favorite characters, movie, or games on
There are certain criteria that must be fulfilled in order for a nonfiction book to be successful. The two criteria that we should judge all argumentative nonfiction by are well written anecdotes that capture the reader’s attention and well explained factual data that proves the author’s point. The book Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen contains both of these criteria and as such is a successful nonfiction book. Loewen’s purpose in writing Lies My Teacher Told Me is to correct the inaccuracies in textbooks and to help students learn the truth about history. He uses anecdotes that provide insight about history and data that easily proves his point about inaccuracies in textbooks to achieve his goal of helping students gain knowledge.
In the documentary, Food Inc., we get an inside look at the secrets and horrors of the food industry. The director, Robert Kenner, argues that most Americans have no idea where their food comes from or what happens to it before they put it in their bodies. To him, this is a major issue and a great danger to society as a whole. One of the conclusions of this documentary is that we should not blindly trust the food companies, and we should ultimately be more concerned with what we are eating and feeding to our children. Through his investigations, he hopes to lift the veil from the hidden world of food.
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Touchstone, 1996.
In Lee Ann Fisher Baron’s “Junk Science,” she claims that the “food industry with the help of federal regulators” sometimes use “[a science that] bypasses [the] system of peer review. Presented directly to the public by…‘experts’ or ‘activists,’ often with little or no supporting evidence, this ‘junk science’ undermines the ability…[for] everyday consumers to make rational decisions” (921). Yet Americans still have a lot of faith in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to a 2013 Pew Research study, 65% of Americans are “very favorable” or “mostly favorable” of the FDA. When it comes to what people put in their bodies, the FDA has a moral obligation to be truthful and transparent. The bottom line of the FDA’s myriad of responsibilities is to help protect the health of Americans. Deciding what to eat is a critical part of living healthily, and consumers must be able to trust that this massive government agency is informing them properly of the contents of food. While the FDA does an excellent job in many areas, it has flaws in other areas. One of its flaws is allowing the food industry to print food labels that are deceptive, unclear, or simply not true (known as misbranding). This is quite the hot topic because a Google search for “Should I trust food labels” returns well over 20 million results, many of which are blog posts from online writers begging their readers not to trust food labels. HowStuffWorks, a division of Discovery Communications, published an online article whose author claims that “[the food industry] will put what they want on labels. They know the game….” While the food industry is partially at blame for misbranding, the FDA is allowing it to happen. If a mother tells her children that it is oka...
High fructose corn syrup was invented by Richard O. Marshall and Earl R. Kooi in 1957” (Production of HF...
Unlike similar documentaries published, Michael Pollan’s “In Defense of Food” effectively shows how the American diet has failed to produce good eating habits. As members of this modern culture we are exposed to all the wrong eating approaches. Michael pollan successfully convinces the viewer it can be simple. He conclusively defends food as it is intended to be eaten, and exhorts the viewer to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly
Shulevitz, Judith. The Liberation of Lying: What Wolff gets and the frauds don’t. 2008. Retrieved from
Harvey, Blatt. America’s Food: What You Don’t Know About What You Eat. 1st ed. Cambridge:
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Touchstone, 2007.
James W. Loewen. Lies My Teacher Told Me, Everything Your American History Teacher Got Wrong. The New Press: New York, 1995.
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. Second. New York, New York: Touchstone, 1997. Print.
More and More people are becoming concerned about what they eat, especially if they consume food products that are manufactured in food industries. However, it is hard to know what exactly you are consuming if food industries provide false nutrition content and mislead consumers by placing false advertisements on the packaging. When a company produces a product that contains misleading label, consumers are not receiving complete information about the food they are eating which could lead to health issues including allergies and problems with diabetes.