Ensuring that an adequate amount of healthy, nutritious foods are available for people is one of the most critical challenges facing humanity. One of the various challenges include food preserving. Food can easily be preserved with today's technology, but sometimes these methods aren't always the healthiest and most natural way to sustain the food's nutritional value. How can we help to reduce the amount of food waste? Together we can help to feed the world.
What would happen if we used more healthy, nutritious ways to preserve food? To keep food fresh from preventing bacterial and fungal growth, artificial preservatives were invented. Even though natural preservatives are abundant and ready to use, most food products still opt for the artificial variety. These preservatives are claimed to be safe, but the truth is, once the food is high on artificial preservatives , then you are in the danger zone. Once we as humans, consume more of these foods high on artificial preservatives , we will end up destroying our health in big proportions. Sulfur dioxide is used in fresh fruits, wines and dried fruits and vegetables in order for these products to avoid turning brown longer. But sulphates are linked with hyperactivity and causes trouble breathing. Nitrates are used to bring up the flavor to a higher notch. Large uses of nitrates is very fatal to your health. Nitrate is bad for your blood because it will be converted in your blood to form a hard substance that makes it difficult for the blood to transport oxygen. Many foods use Butyrate hydroxyanisole as a preservatives. But with this preservative , you are more prone to get tumors and cancer. High cholesterol , hyperactivity, asthma attacks, and some other disorders ...
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...dea when and how you'll use the food you buy. If you are taking advantage of sales or buying items in bulk, the same rule applies. Don't overdue it, be sure to purchase an reasonable amount. Before taking off to the supermarket, know what food you have know what you don't need to buy. Take inventory of what is in the freezer, refrigerator cupboards. Also, make sure to have somewhat of an idea on when you plan on using your food. If we're cautious about the amount of food wastage, we can help keep our food supply plentiful.
One of the most critical challenges facing humanity is ensuring that enough healthy, wholesome food is available for everyone. Can it be that preserving food can be healthier by using a natural way, rather than a artificial way to sustain the food's nutritional value. Just think what would happen if we COULD feed the whole world!
Michael Pollan makes arguments concerning the eating habits of the average American. Pollan suggests, in spite of our cultural norms, we should simply “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.”
According to Roni Neff, Marie Spiker, and Patricia Truant, up to 40% of all food produced in America is thrown away (Neff, Spiker, & Truant, 2015, p.2). This wasted food is worth hundreds of billions of dollars that is lost each year in the United States alone, and creates many threats to our country. Food waste is an important and widespread issue in the United States because most of the food thrown away is perfectly fine, it could be used to feed the hungry, and the waste hurts the environment.
Food insecurity is defined by those who either do not have enough or are at real risk of not having enough food for their family. In May of 2009, there were approximately 38 million Americans defined as food insecure. That number grew to nearly 49 million 6 months later, and today there are over 50 million food insecure Americans (1 out of every 6). I find this astounding, because about 30 percent of all produce is thrown away before it even reaches the grocery store. Why? Because of cosmetic imperfections that are stipulated by large grocers that decide how produce should look. That is roughly 100 billion pounds of food a year or 1 pound per American per day that is being wasted because they aren’t pretty. America has begun to cater to only the perfectionist shoppers and has forgotten about those who do not have the money to purchase highly-priced produce. One of the ways we can start to solve this problem is through minimizing food waste at the beginning of the chain. Farmers typically throw away roughly 30 percent of all produce because they do not meet the guidelines for color, shape or number of blemishes. Instead, we should be following the
Food can be classified as fast food, junk food, whole food, organic food out of these whole food is unprocessed, unrefined so it has very short shelf life because most foods contain enzymes or natural chemicals, such as acids or alcohols, that cause them to begin to lose characteristics almost immediately after harvest or preparation. In addition, a several of environmental factors, such as heat and the presence of microorganisms, acts to change foodstuffs in ways that may harm the food product so food should be processed to increase its shelf life because food is vital for survival. Food preservation is one of the oldest technologies used by human beings to avoid its spoilage. Different methods have been found and developed for this purpose such as boiling, freezing & refrigeration, pasteurizing, dehydrating, pickling. Some of these are traditional methods. Certain chemical substances are also added into the food to avoid spoilage of food, such substances are called food preservatives.
Food security is the availability, access, stability and utilisation of food for all people. (Beddington et al., 2012) The world’s population is expected to reach nine million by 2050. The main limitations stopping the world from achieving food security is food wastage, inadequate production and economic barriers. Overcoming these barriers is essential to being able to feed an increased population however it must be done in a way that will not exploit our natural resources or environment so that future generations can also to produce enough food.
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 scary reality is that, according to the book American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It), “landfilling of food is on the rise – the rate doubled from 1980 to 2007” (Bloom 15). This reality leads to a number of negative consequences such as an increase in methane production and pollution. “Most food waste, approximately 33 million tons, is disposed in landfills, costing $750 million and accounting for 25% of U.S methane emissions” (Uga.edu).
Casey Williams, an editor at Huffington Post, points out that “20 percent of food waste in people’s homes is caused by the confusing date labeling system.” Because of date labels like ‘sell by,’ best by’ etc., many Americans misinterpret the meaning of the labels. While the aforementioned date labels may seem similar, they are actually quite different. For example, ‘sell by’ simply means that a product must be removed off the shelves of a grocery chain after the given date; ‘use by,’ however, refers to “when food is freshest” (Williams). Many consumers also assume that the given date, no matter the type of label, simply refers to the actual date that the product is safe to use till. Going even a day over the given date is thought to be dangerous. However, these dates are often incorrect and estimated much sooner than the actual time a product might spoil. Even if the food does exceed its given expiration date, it does not signify that it is unsafe for consumption. Emily Broad Leib, a professor of Harvard Food law, argues, “the vast majority of food is safe to eat even after it passes the date on the label” (qtd in Williams). Throwing food away, that need not be wasted then forces consumers to buy more products which lead to more profit for the
Americans buy and waste food like it’s their job. I am guilty of buying and wasting food as well . For example,we all have a favorite food and have a tendency to want more than our stomachs can hold.How many of us actually go back and eat that food . For example I love tacos especially from my favorite restaurant Nacho mama's. I can't help but order some to go for lunch later in theweek. But my left overs never end up making it to my lunch plate. They end up being thrown to the back of the fridge not to be looked at, until the fridge starts to smell. When cleaning out the fridge one might not think that throwing away a few tacos or a carton of milk is a big deal, but over time food adds up. And it adds up exponentially in our landfills.
...veryday foods require a lot of energy and release a lot of greenhouse gases to produce. This is the reason we should stop wasting the foods, consume less meat, and eat more locally grown food.
Food has been a common source of necessity in our everyday lives as humans. It helps gives us nutrition and energy to live throughout our life. Over several decades, the development of making foods has evolved. They have changed from natural to processed foods in recent years. Nowadays natural ingredients are barely used in the making of foods like bread, cheese, or yogurt. The food industry today has replaced natural food making with inorganic ingredients. The cause of this switch is due to processed foods being easier, cheaper and faster to make. Artificial nutrition and processed foods have been proven to last longer in market shelves then natural foods. Also, due to artificial additives in processed foods they help satisfy consumers taste more than natural ingredients. The method of producing processed foods is common in today's food industry and helps make money faster and efficiently for companies. Examples of this can be found in all markets that distribute food. Even though processed foods may be easier and faster to make, they are nowhere near as healthy for consumers compared to natural foods. Natural foods are healthier, wholesome, and beneficial to the human body and planet then processed foods.
The demand for easy to prepare and convenience of food create major scientific and technological challenges that cannot be fulfilled without experts scientific capable of understanding complex chemistry or biochemistry of food system and knowledge about method to preserved food which increases dependability of society towards ready-to-eat has led the greater responsibility for processors in terms of quality, safety and nutrition (McGill, 2011).
When I woke up this morning, after I brushed my teeth, looking in the mirror, I thought to myself ; “what am I putting into my body that shouldn’t be there?” The answer to that question is the processed foods that large food corporations sell to us consumers and make us think that we are eating healthy and nutritious foods when we are eating processed foods filled with preservatives to make them last longer. As a consumer, if I buy a food item, I would think that this product is safe for my family and I to consume, but what’s the point of purchasing that product if that guarantee is not there. Why would you want something in your food that would make that food item look the same way after its natural expiration period? These additives are chemicals that corporations agree to add to make foods last longer. But thinking logically, why should food last longer than the natural decomposition period? It shouldn’t, food should last the time that it naturally should last. Not only can these foods be extremely unhealthy to my body, but they can also be leading to future problems that I will have. Due to the way I eat in todays day and age, I tend to ask myself a question more frequently than I should which is What affect can food preservatives do on the human body?
Food Preservation is the ways to retain the food quality in a longer times. It is to prevent the food decomposition and fermentation. Besides that, food preservation not only to prevent the food getting spoilt in a long period of time but also preserved the colour, taste and the food nutritive value. Nowadays, food preservation has become more and more important component in the food industry as the consumers expect that able to purchase those foods that are out of season or imported from other countries. Furthermore, there are few reason why food preservation is important in our daily life such as preservation foods when they are in season it may added variety choices in our meals for example smoke meats and
Food loss and food waste refers to the reduction in edible food masses within a supply chain that produces food for human consumption. They occur throughout the supply chain right from the time of harvesting and collection of produce from the farm land, to the point of delivering the food to the retailer and even final consumption by households (Parfitt et al., 2010). They could happen in form of food spoilage or food spillage during the different processing stages. They could also occur as a result of food being destroyed by retailers or consumers. Food that gets spoilt or spilled before reaching the retail stage or the final consumer are said to be lost (food losses). These spoilage or spillage could be due to harvest, storage and transportation problems. However, food that is supposed to be consumed, but is