Globalisation and Regulation of Food Risks
As globalisation process covers more and more aspects of life and
includes food, it becomes increasingly important to develop consistent
theoretical perspectives on this process. In this paper I will first
identify different theoretical views on globalisation and build on the
views of Giddens and Castells to analyse the globalisation of food
production and consumption. This will lead to the identification of
structural tensions in the regulatory options in this globalising
agri-food networks. The concept of agri-food networks is introduced to
analyse the tension between global and local regulation of food
production and consumption.
1. Introduction.
Regulating the environmental consequences of food production and
consumption as well as the safety of food is no longer the sole
responsibility of independent national states. The development and
implementation of the regulation of food is increasingly influenced by
processes in other, sometimes distant, places. Global trade, including
food trade, has grown rapidly during the last decades leading to a
search for new ways to regulate the impacts on the environment and
safety of food production and consumption. Thus the regulation of food
is globalising, like many other aspects of people's lives and
understanding the changing practices of regulation needs to based on a
consistent social science analysis. There are however different
theoretical perspectives on globalisation within the social sciences
and I will review them to identify the most promising views to analyse
the regulation of food risks. Whereas some theorists see globalisation
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... of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, and minimisation of
damage to the environment and wildlife. And fair trade tries to
transform North/South trade to a vehicle of sustainable development.
(Raynolds, 2000)
[16] 'Around 3.800 additives are used in our daily food, for three
basic purposes. First, there are cosmetic chemicals that make products
look more attractive to the senses, especially colouring agents,
flavours, sweeteners and texture modifiers, such as emulsifiers and
stabilisers. Second, there are preservatives, including antioxidants
and sequestrants, which add life to a product. Third, processing aids
assist the manufacturing process, for instance by preventing food from
sticking to machinery. About 380 of these additives had officially
been approved by the EU by 1987.' (Atkins and Bowler, (2001) p. 215)
The book The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food, by Wayne Roberts introduces us to the concept of “food system”, which has been neglected by many people in today’s fast-changing and fast-developing global food scene. Roberts points out that rather than food system, more people tend to recognize food as a problem or an opportunity. And he believes that instead of considering food as a “problem”, we should think first and foremost about food as an “opportunity”.
David Suzuki, Zoologist and the writer of an essays “Food Connection” and “It always Costs”, from Essay Writing for Canadian Students with Readings, by Kay Stewart, Roger Davis, Chris Bullock & Marian Allen. 6thed Toronto: Pearson, 2008. 344-349, stated that food is what nourishes us, connects us with the Earth, and reminds us of the cycles of the seasons. Eating is an activity that we as humans do at least two times a day. We live in a world where the variety of food is immense, and we are responsible for what we eat. We decide what we are about to eat and how it will affect our bodies. In his essay “It always cost” he emphasized that technology nowadays constantly seems to seep its way into our daily routines. Everything we do is somehow connected with technology. We must understand that...
In our fast pace society, we base everything on time and money. This need to save money and time has transformed the way we see food and purchase food. Food is an essential part of all cultures. It plays a role in every person’s life. The population has the power to choose what we eat and how the food industry is shaped. There are many important questions that we need to ask ourselves in order to keep the food industry in check. These questions are: How do we know our food is safe? What should we eat? How should food be distributed? What is good food? These are simple yet difficult questions.
Around the world, incessant debate swells over the matter of industrial farming. Today, arguments over organic versus industrial farming are analogous to a salmon swimming downstream in a murky nitrogen runoff stream – it’s stalled, hazardous, and rather convoluted. From meticulous inspection of the facts, one realizes that both sides’ arguments can often overlap and contradict each other, often with disputable claims backing up certain viewpoints. In this regard, David Biello, associate editor of Scientific American, argues that in developing countries, industrial farming is preferable to organic farming in developing countries because it is more suitable and safe. However, Biello fails to address industrial farming’s most dangerous and deadly aspect – pesticides. The effects of pesticides are so dire that it is nearly impossible to suggest that industrial farming is more innocuous and suitable for third world countries.
The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 amends the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act and
If I were to ask people, “Do you see anything wrong with the food system in America?” the majority of people would respond “No”. After all, America is the best country on Earth. How could the alleged best country on Earth be running on a tainted system that only cares about profit? It was not until I did my own research that I uncover the many, many flaws. After watching the documentary Food Inc., it is very evident that the current system providing the nation with food and food safety is broken. In order to amend the current system, there needs to be changes in three key areas: the government, the producers, and the consumers.
However, the influence of food sovereignty also creates a number of issues, the large scale operation of TNCs and unsustainable practices are damaging the dynamic equilibrium of ecosystems and increase potential for natural disaster, such...
Since World War Two, the demand for convenient food, ethnic foods, and fresh fruits and vegetables has risen as a result of increases in income and the prevalence of dual-income families, together with the desire for food variety and healthy foods. The agriculture industry works and develops to meet these demands. Into recent times, societies share a growing concern regarding the environment, climate change, food safety, and animal welfare. Pertaining to agriculture, these concerns question issues such as soil and water conservation practices, use of pesticides and chemicals in crop production, growth promoters, and livestock treatment practices in animal agriculture. However, the industry’s scientists continue to work and research ways to balance the industry and bring environmental and economic
The approach describes all the modern-day strategies developed and designed to support and enable the capability of the native communities in sustaining the friendly way of interacting with the environment. The description provides a clear picture of indigenous food systems in supporting the direct and indirect transfer of energy to the modern agriculture-based economy that was industrialized and developed by the settlers through the process of colonization (Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty ). Embracing indigenous foods, the indigenous ways of food production, and agriculture is important especially in the contemporary society where genetically modified foods have resulted in negative health impacts, food insecurity, and development of environmental non-friendly policies in agriculture and food
Moreover, they do not offer effective solutions to climate change and are as energy-hungry as any other chemically farmed crops. They also cannot solve the problem of world hunger, but distract from its real causes – poverty, lack of access to food and, increasingly, the lack of access to land to grow it on (18.)
In order for us to maintain our lives, we need to consume food to supply nutrient-needs for our bodies. As the global population increased, the demand for food also increased. Increased population led to mass production of foods. However, even with this mass production, in under-developed countries, people are still undernourished. On other hand, in developed and developing countries, people are overfed and suffering from obesity. In addition, the current methods of industrial farming destroy the environment. These problems raised a question to our global food system. Will it be able to sustain our increasing global population and the earth? With this question in my mind, I decided to investigate the sustainability of our current global food system.
The world needs to think of how the climate is changing the food supply of the earth. The climate is doing some really bad things to the earth. The atmosphere is also not in good shape because of climate change. Humans now need to think of how climate change is affecting people. Climate change is affecting the food supply of the world.
The movement of food is also one of the things that have negative implications on public health. Food is an inevitable commodity in the life of human beings. With globalization, the eating culture of individuals have changed to something more foreign creating the room for importation of food. Food products exported by developing countries lack some standards. In Africa the food market is porous and expired food and unhealthy products are smuggled into the market through its boarders. International food movement is a national security issue because of the fatalities involved when food products are compromised.
There are those that believe our planet has reached its maximum capacity to sustain humanity and we need to reduce our population to rectify it. It is also said that our planet is well capable of providing both the nutrition and caloric needs for humanity, both now and into the future as well. Regardless of where one’s opinion of the facts fall between these two arguments, global food security is not where it should be. Uneven development could be argued to be a cause of this. But it is not the only issue affecting the planet.
... the Bahrain food control authorities must be in a position to address and counter all the threats to the system identified. For example, the threat faced from the inability to critically analyze the food regulatory agencies could expose the population to unsafe foods. In other words, there are high chances of cross-contamination of food during inspections due to weak inspection services and procedures. Worse still, the government may lack the capacity to bring food-borne diseases under control should they break out. Overreliance on imported food however remains the biggest threat to Bahrain food control system as it implies that the food problems in the countries of origin would be imported into Bahrain. One of the proposed or recommended strategies for Bahrain regarding its food control system is the adoption of an integrated approach to food control activities.