We should protest against the industrial companies. The food companies have deliberately hidden nutritional facts from us, by saying on their labels “premium” or “natural” or even “pure.” Now if you go to the supermarket there are no bones in the meat and you see fruits and vegetables from different seasons because it was picked early and used ethylene gas to ripen them. There are so many things that they do to our food that we don’t know. Slaughterhouses, pesticides, and billions bushels produced millions of corn that are grown every year. What is sad, about the fact is that 42 million cows are slaughtered every year in the U.S. We don’t need that much food every year. Food companies and big corporations don’t want you to know the truth, making a positive outcome to them of what you're eating, because if you knew, you might not want to eat it.
Cows go Moo for Grass
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Corns are used to feed cattle’s, Cows evolved to have a low acidic stomach/rumen. “They’re made to eat forage,” Metzen said, “and we’re making them eat grain. “(The New York Times, Power Steer by Michael Pollan) It digests grasses with the aid of bacteria, but the thing is that over thousands of years, cows are used to eat grass. Cows are used to eating grass, not corn. When given corn, the bacteria can't break it down, meaning its bad for the cows. Why? Because it have the worst fatty acid profile of all the grains (which skews the fat balance in the membrane of all animal body cells negatively impacting cell functions) of new bacteria can enter the rumen, causing the cow's diseases. Cows are given antibiotics to save the cow (from dying) but the bacteria can evolve to prevent antibiotics, so meaning it doesn’t do any harm to the bacteria. What if it enters our meat and somebody eats it? You can't give the person antibiotics, scientist have to make another way to fight it. It is kind of like
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
In the first third of the book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, he draws the reader in by bringing to light many interesting facts about corn that most individuals may not realize. He states that the majority of food that people consume contains corn. Although people of Mexican descent are usually referred to as the “corn people”, Americans have now surpassed them in the amount of corn consumed in their daily diet. Corn is consumed in a variety of forms and many of the animals that are eaten by Americans, such as the chicken, pig, turkey, and lamb are fed corn. When a person eats these animals, he or she is essentially increasing their corn intake, and in most cases without even realizing it. The corn crop has spread vastly and is massively produced because it is efficient. Unlike other crop plants, corn can survive in harsh weather conditions and it is light and easy to transport. Maize is also self-fertilized and pollinated by wind, and it has evolved over time and continues to evolve, into new forms and new uses.
Food, especially meat is such a central part of human society that it cannot be ignored. Just as big minds came together in the 60’s to make a better chicken, they can come together to solve a crisis that harms every person living in this country. Jonathan Safran Foer’s book gives an important look into what goes on behind the scenes of factory farms, and offers logical solutions. However, it will take more than this, and more than just vegetarian encouragement to make any lasting changes. It will take the votes of consumers both in the supermarket and on ballots to evoke a better system. Take a look at what is on your plate next time you sit down for a meal. Did you vote well?
The 2009 movie Food Inc. describes the major role that food production plays within many lives. This movie revealed that there is a very small variety of companies that consumers purchase their food from. These few companies actually control what is out on the shelves and what we put into our bodies. These companies have changed food production into a food production business. Many of these companies experiment with ways to create large quantities of food at low production costs to result in an enormous amount of profit for themselves. Some of the production cost cuts also result in less healthy food for the population. Instead of worrying about the health of the population, the companies are worried about what will make them the most money.
In Tracie McMillan’s article, “Food’s Class Warfare,” she discusses the possible problems and solutions of food equality among the classes. She believes, as does Alice Waters an organic chef, that “good food should be a right and not a privilege” (McMillan 1). “To secure the future of America’s food supply” (2) there are two camps of belief. The first, “just-buy-better-stuff” (2), is a belief that is based on an individual’s choice. Ultimately the choice is ours to make and we must be wise in what we eat. The second, structural challenges, argues that having access to healthy food will be what solves the problem. Although both sides have great points, McMillan believes it will take both working together, to change the way we eat.
Although feeding corn to cattle speeds up the process until they reach slaughter time, evidence shows that feeding corn to cattle that are genetically wired to eat grass produces unhealthy beef which then plays a role in healthy people, minimizing the longevity in Americans. Furthermore, the logic of nature relies on complex mutual relationship where each animal contributes to the sustainability of their environment in a cyclic manner as stated in the chapter “All Flesh is Grass”:
...armers’ markets, raise your own cow– the list goes on. These methods are all possible. But speaking as a “run-of-the-mill, suburban citizen”, even after knowing all the ills of factory farming, these methods are not appealing to me. We all like convenience and affordability, which these methods cannot offer AYYYY CITE And that is truly the issue here. The meat that we are getting– that convenient meat that none of us seem to want to live without– is quite frankly grotesque and unhealthy. But we keep eating.
In Wendell Berry’s “The Pleasures of Eating,” this farmer tells eaters how their separation from food production has turned them into “passive consumers” who know nothing about the food they eat, or their part in the agricultural process (3). They are blindsided by a food industry that does not help them understand. Berry argues that the average consumer buys available food without any questions. He states consumers that think they are distanced from agriculture because they can easily buy food, making them ignorant of cruel conditions it went through to get on the shelf. Humans have become controlled by the food industry, and regard eating as just something required for their survival. Berry wants this to change as people realize they should get an enjoyment from eating that can only come from becoming responsible for their food choices and learning more about what they eat. While describing the average consumer’s ignorance and the food industry’s deceit, he effectively uses appeals to emotion, logic, and values to persuade people to take charge, and change how they think about eating.
With the ever-growing population of animal lovers on earth, a more viable, humane solution for food consumption needs to be made, but why make a solution when there has already been one? Meat consumption has been proven time and time again to be unnecessary, but that doesn’t stop the average person from eating a double cheese burger with bacon. Unfortunately, many people are apathetic to what happens to animals in farm factories and continue to support them by buying their products, however, consumers should consider switching to a vegetarian diet because it’s more humane to animals, less farm factories being built can save the planet from deforestation, and with a proper balanced vegetarian diet anyone can maintain a healthy life without the
Antibiotics and steroids are given to fatten the corn-fed beef quickly in a short time. However, grass-fed beef does not contain any of these harmful Antibiotics and steroids. It is also mentioned in Matte’s article that “Corn-fed beef may have other detrimental health effects. To speed growth, lot fed beef is often given anabolic steroids, the same hormone drugs bodybuilders and athletes use illegally to increase muscle size.” She also states that there is a lot of uncertainty of lot-fed cows to become sick due to its unsanitary surroundings and also because they “are treated with antibiotics before.” If sick beef is slaughtered, it can make people sick as
Our current system of corporate-dominated, industrial-style farming might not resemble the old-fashioned farms of yore, but the modern method of raising food has been a surprisingly long time in the making. That's one of the astonishing revelations found in Christopher D. Cook's "Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis" (2004, 2006, The New Press), which explores in great detail the often unappealing, yet largely unseen, underbelly of today's food production and processing machine. While some of the material will be familiar to those who've read Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" or Eric Schlosser's "Fast-Food Nation," Cook's work provides many new insights for anyone who's concerned about how and what we eat,
Food production has many challenges to address: CO2 emissions, which are projected to increase by two-thirds in the next 20 years, as the global food production increases so does the number of people going hungry, with the number of urban hungry soaring. The environmental issues are not the only ones to face; politics and economic globalization take also the big part in the food world. These days agriculture and food politics has been going through many changes but mostly under the influence of its consumers; back in the days people wanted as little as safety, variety and low costs of food. Now consumers demanding way more – greater freshness, nutritional value, less synthetic chemicals, smaller carbon footprint and less harm to animals. And that’s the time when urban agriculture emerged quite rapidly delivering locally grown and healthy food. Within the political arena, there are a few still in charge of defending the conventional food industries and commercial farms to retain the upper level. Against the hopes of nutrition activists, farm animal welfare defenders, and organic food promoters, the food and agriculture sector is moving towards greater consolidation and better sustainability. Although in social and local terms, food-growing activists know their role is under attack. Caught two words in the middle, is it possible to satisfy both?
...ade, and how it got to his or her plate. Even when people are eating healthier foods, most are still unaware of why it is important to eat organically and locally. They do not realize what a huge contribution just one person is when they eat a diet based on organic and local foods. When you put into a perspective how much money is spent on just 3 months worth of food for one person that is from global supermarkets or fast food restaurants, you realize how much damage that is to the environment by supporting foods that are unnatural, unethical, and damaging to soil. A majority of people, especially Americans, is very unaware of how this is a serious issue. By educating people and encouraging them to eat for peace instead of pleasure, slowly and hopefully the world can change into a cleaner, healthier, and safer place, in which everyone can gain awareness and happiness.
As Americans, we all take our own approach to food, but most of us have the same initial feeling about it. And that is that we live and eat an unhealthy lifestyle to one that is leading to the increase of obesity and other diseases. In just 28years the rate of obesity in children has raised from 6.9% to 19.6%. We take that childhood obesity into our adulthood with us. Not only is the obesity rates increasing, but so is our chance of developing diabetes along with hypertension, high cholesterol and heart disease. People want to comment and have a say about the situation. But very few people want to take action and change the way our food today is processed and made accessible to us. The major argument people have is that they do not have the money for a healthier lifestyle. But,
Food is taken for granted by many people in places like the Western World, especially in countries like the United States. There is no fear that the next meal will be an empty plate, nor is there reason to fear that the supply of food will disappear. The reason that there is no need to ration out supplies is that the food industry mass produces food to feed their ever growing population in factory farms. However, the public is kept generally unaware of what occurs inside these farms, which calls into question the integrity of the food production. While there is an acceptance of these farms due to the convenience they provide to the consumer, there are many negative consequences related to these slaughterhouses. The mass production of food from factory farming does not justify the negative affects and threat to the environment, to the health and security of animals, nor the violation of workers’ rights.