If people really knew what they were putting in their bodies when they ate, they probably would not want to eat it anymore. People don’t even know where their food is coming from, let alone know that some of their foods have been genetically modified. There are huge issues regarding the consumer’s health when eating these foods. For example, the animals’ wellbeing is not considered, and the environment is at risk. The United States food industry has become corrupt in so many ways; therefore, the consumer should buy from local farms to improve their health and ease their conscience. Instead of buying your food from supermarkets and not knowing if you are getting the meat from sick chickens or a thousand cows in just a single beef patty, people …show more content…
directed by Robert Kenner does a great job portraying all of the issues with the American food industry. He talks about one of the major problems regarding our health and the meat industry when he mentions the health risks associated with meat consumption. Cattle are now being fed corn, which results in a mutation of a strain of E. Coli called E. Coli 0157h7. This is a product of the diet we’re feeding the cows on feedlots. Even if these animals are infectious, they still slaughter and sell them, which results in the consumer’s health possibly being affected. Another way our meat gets infected is when the animals stand in their manure all day long. So if one has it, they all will get it. Also, since they stand in their manure, all of the hides are covered in it which gets in the meat since they slaughter about 400 cattle an hour resulting in the workers not being able to keep the manure from getting on the carcasses. One person in specific that was effected by E. Coli 0157h7 is Kevin Kowalcyk. He was just two and a half years old when he passed away, due to eating a hamburger that was infected. It is unbelievable to think that this little boy could go from being healthy to dead in just 12 days and we consumers are putting our faith in the food industry to protect us from these viruses. Since his passing, Kevin’s Law was implemented which gave back to the USDA the power to shut down any plants that repeatedly produce contaminated meat (Food Inc.). …show more content…
Vern Grubinger, a vegetable and berry specialist from the University of Vermont states in her newsletter article, “Ten Reasons to Buy Local Food” that, “Local food supports local families.” Local farmers cut out the middleman by selling straight to the consumer and getting full retail price for their food. This helps the farmer’s families stay on their land. She also mentions that, “Local food builds community.” When you buy your food directly from the farmer, you are engaging in a connection between yourself and them. When you know the farmer, you get insight on the seasons that the food grows, the land in which it grows on, and the food that you eat. Another way it helps your community is that it keeps taxes down. Grubinger states that, “According to several studies by the American Farmland Trust, farms contribute more in taxes than they require in services, whereas most development contributes less in taxes than the cost of required service” (Grubinger). In addition to Grubinger’s thoughts, Rosalind Gray Davis mentions that when buying from local farms, you are supporting farmers that believe in the extra care to produce safe and organic foods (Davis). Without these farmers, we would be stuck buying from these giant industries and enabling their horrible business. Buying locally also gives you a clear conscience because you do not have to deal with the thought that you bought from a
...in the market. Diversified mid-sized family farms used to produce most of our meat, but now, only a few companies control the livestock industry. This has resulted in driving family farmers out of the market and replacing them with massive confined feeding operations that subject the animals to terrible living conditions that subject our food to contamination. Major food corporations are only concerned with minimizing overhead in order to deliver the consumer cheap food, regardless of the health implications.
Moreover, this system of mass farming leads to single crop farms, which are ecologically unsafe, and the unnatural treatment of animals (Kingsolver 14). These facts are presented to force the reader to consider their own actions when purchasing their own food because of the huge economic impact that their purchases can have. Kingsolver demonstrates this impact by stating that “every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we
Local rather than global and small rather than large, the increase in these less conventional manners of production can be seen in the increased abundance of farmers’ markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), and community gardens. Farmers’ markets are common areas where farmers meet on a regular basis and sell various fresh produce directly to the consumers. The number of farmer’s markets between 1994 and 2014 has increased from around 2,000 to 8,000 (ers.usda.gov). Farmer’s offers an aesthetic that Walmart cannot provide—the opportunity to be personable. The consumer is able to see who grew the food, ask how it was grown, and will not be dazzled by fancy packaging or advertisements.
Genetically modified? That alone should be a cause for alarm, and have you wondering, what exactly is in this that I am eating? Yet every day millions of American’s choose to load up on food filled with GMO’s, and not even know it. First we must understand what GMO’s are. GMO’s are any organism whose genetics has been altered using genetic engineering. We should not be tampering with nature, and should try to grow organically as much as possible. There has not been enough research on GMO’s to know the potential long term effects it can have on us, so this is why GMO’s should be banned.
A counter argument to the conclusion that we should not trust nor buy from our food industries could be the obvious reason that food is cheaper than ever before. When times are hard in America, we can always count on the cheap price of our fast food restaurants and their dollar menus. However, these cheap prices come at a high cost. The reason meat or grains, for example, are so cheap, is due to subsidizing the market. While this may be great for consumers, it is actually incredibly harmful to local farmers. Artificially driving down the prices
This then brings up the issue of how our food is much worse than we had originally believed. Bryan Walsh, writer for TIME, wrote the article, The Real Cost of Cheap Food, “To stay and grow in such conditions, farm animals need pharmaceutical help, which can further damaging consequences for humans” (Walsh 34). From the chickens to the cows, animals are kept in “prison-like conditions” that causes them to become very sick (Walsh 34). To prevent animals from getting extremely sick to the point where they die before it’s their time, farmers feed them antibiotics. Not only are the animals eating corn and antibiotics, but so are we. We are eating so much more than we ever asked for. I’ve never asked to have antibiotics in my hamburger, and I’m sure many others haven’t either, however, that is the price we ought to pay for our cheap food. Not only must we ask ourselves if we are healthy, but now we must ask ourselves if what we are eating is also eating
Most of us do not think twice about the foods we pick up from the supermarket. Many Americans have a preconceived belief that the food being sold to us is safe, and withholds the highest standard of quality. Certainly, compared to many places in the world, this is true. But is the United States sincerely trying to carry out these standards, or have we begun to see a reverse in the health and safety of our food- and more explicitly in our meat? Jonathan Foer, author of “Eating Animals” argues for reform within the food industry- not only for the humane treatment of animals but moreover for our own health. Although Foer exposes the ills within the food industries in order to persuade readers to change their diets for the better, his “vegetarianism or die” assessment may be too extreme for most Americans. The true ills do not start with the meat, but with industrialized production of it through methods practiced by factory farming.
Meatpacking has become the most dangerous job in America. Unlike poultry plants, in which almost all tasks are performed by machines, most of the work in a slaughterhouse is done by hand. Hazards of the job include injuries from the various machines and knives, strain to the body from poor working conditions, and even methamphetamine use in order to keep up with the production line. Women face the added threat of sexual harassment. This chapter opens with an anecdote about the largest recall of food in the nation’s history. In 1997 approximately 35 million pounds of ground beef was recalled by Hudson Foods because a strain of E Coli was found in the food. However, by the time the beef was recalled, 25 million pounds had already been eaten. Schlosser notes that the nature of food poisoning is changing. Prior to the rise of large meatpacking plants, people would become ill from bad food in small, localized arenas. Now, because meat is distributed all over the nation, an outbreak of food poisoning in one town may indicate nation-wide epidemic. Every day in the United States, 200, 000 people are sickened by a food borne
American society has grown so accustomed to receiving their food right away and in large quantities. Only in the past few decades has factory farming come into existence that has made consuming food a non guilt-free action. What originally was a hamburger with slaughtered cow meat is now slaughtered cow meat that’s filled with harmful chemicals. Not only that, the corn that that cow was fed with is also filled with chemicals to make them grow at a faster rate to get that hamburger on a dinner plate as quickly as possible. Bryan Walsh, a staff writer for Time Magazine specializing in environmental issues discusses in his article “America’s Food Crisis” how our food is not only bad for us but dangerous as well. The word dangerous could apply to many different things though. Our food is dangerous to the consumer, the workers and farmers, the animals and the environment. Walsh gives examples of each of these in his article that leads back to the main point of how dangerous the food we are consuming every day really is. He goes into detail on each of them but focuses his information on the consumer.
Food is an essential part of everyday life without it one could not survive. Every day we make choices on what we put in to our bodies. There are countless varieties of food to choose from to meet the diverse tastes of the increasing population. Almost all food requires a label explaining the ingredients and the nutritional value allowing consumers to make informed decisions on what they are consuming. However, many may not be considering where that food is coming from or how it has been produced. Unfortunately, there is more to food than meets the eye. Since 1992, “ the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled, based on woefully limited data, that genetically modified foods were ‘substantially equivalent’ to their non-GM counterparts” (Why to Support Labeling). GM food advocates have promised to create more nutritious food that will be able to grow in harsh climate conditions and eventually put an end to world hunger in anticipation of the growing population. There is very little evidence to support these claims and study after study has proven just the opposite. GM crops are not only unsafe to consume, but their growing practices are harmful to the environment, and multinational corporations are putting farmers out of business.
...es of cattle, which resulted in the increase of suicidal reports. Slaughterhouses and meatpacking companies have amplified the amount of cattle slaughtered each hour to fulfill the amount of meat consumed in the United States due to the cause of fast food. The damage that fast food had placed on illegal immigrant workers and sanitary workers that are employed in slaughterhouses are as much as murdering the men and women, minute by minute. The growth of fast food is too fast for our voices to be heard and fast food had implemented too much innovation in agriculture today for us to fix. We can still change the society that we live in today, as long as we withdraw our arrogant and selfish thoughts on fast food and think of ways to improve and recover what the fast food industry had done.
One of the important things that they talked about in the documentary was the lack of safety inspections being performed by the U.S.D.A and because of that, cases of salmonella have increased exponentially. Based on the documentary “Food Inc” “in 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections, in 2006 they conducted 9,164.” Another thing that was talked about in the the video was that the animals are forced to wade around through ankle high manure for days on end until they are brought to slaughter. They are also forced to subsist on a corn only diet. This is due to the fact corn is subsidized by the US government and it is cheaper to feed animals while also fattening them up at the same time. Cows are not biologically designed to live off corn; their diet should consist of only grass. Research shows this change of diet is causing a mutated strain of e.coli to form in the cow’s stomach that is acid resistant. This strain of E.coli is known as 0157:H7 that was stated in the movie (Food
What the American culture is used to is eating three meals with a few snacks in between a day, and two out of the three meals usually involve eating meat. Most people don’t realize the risks of eating meat. Today’s medical experts say that avoiding meat helps you avoid saturated fat. They have found out from studies that women who eat meat daily have a fifty percent greater risk of developing heart disease than vegetarian women and a sixty-eight percent greater risk in men (staff writer). People may not know about serious diseases meat can obtain such as, mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease. In the September 1999 issue of the Emerging Infectious Diseases, approximately 76 million food borne illnesses- resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths occur in the United States each year from improperly cooked or diseased meat (Licher). That is a lot! You can also get salmonella poisoning from meat. People think that the problems come from eating red meat and are opting for fish over steak, but new evidence proves that fish can cause health problems too, risks that can’t be cooked away. This is a growing problem called histamine poisoning (Peck). Children are learning at a younger age that they don’t like meat, maybe because they don’t like the taste, or maybe it’s because they have a fear of eating their favorite cartoon or movie hero. For example, the pig from the movie “babe”.
How many of you hear the words “genetically modified food” and immediately think “BAD”? How many of you scorn the idea that genetically modified foods are useful? How many of you have been manipulated by the media to think that all biotechnology is evil? Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms that have been genetically spliced to achieve a certain trait. As the demand for a larger food supply is increasing due to population growth, the benefits that GMO foods provide are being hailed as the only solution to the food crisis. However, many people are making inadequately informed decisions, and are pushing them to the back shelf. I will inform you on why genetically modified organisms may be the only way to a stable, safe future for the less fortunate.
Have you ever considered what is in the food you are feeding your children? Most foods that are bought at the neighborhood grocery stores are considered global foods which are packed with additives and chemicals making them far less nutritious than local produce from the community farmer‘s market. After much research, I have concluded that it is better to buy produce which is grown locally rather than produce which is sourced globally (from other countries). I think this is important because most people, like myself, buy global foods and do not realize how much better local foods are for the local economy, the global environment, and our personal nutrition. Nutrition is vital to the healthy of everyone especially children, so with the purchase of local fresh produce, it can ease the worry in parents of what children as well as ourselves are ingesting.