Bananas are number four on the list of staple crops in the world and one of the biggest profit-makers in supermarkets, making them critical for economic and global food security. Bananas have become such a common, inexpensive grocery item that people often forget where they come from and how they got here. On an average, consumption of 6.4 billion pounds of Banana annually is observed. They are tasty, cheap, and plentiful. Chances are, you will buy or eat a Banana at least once in a week. You might be surprised to know what it takes to get that delicious, cheap, yellow commodity into your hands—the price is paid by the environment. For fresh fruit and vegetables, safe indicates that the product is free from chemical residues, pests and diseases and is also nutritious (Norshamliza and Batt 2015).One Banana after lunch is invariably a regular practice to keep good bowel movement and heart diseases. Food adulteration has become common practices that the Departments of Health and Agriculture must check the practice. Every …show more content…
According to the findings of a survey conducted in Mumbai region, while evaluating the quality of Banana, consumers are enticed by visual value like no black spots, nice yellow color, and no bruises. About 80% of consumers are aware of the use of calcium carbide as artificial ripeners used and health hazards to human health. There is very low awareness of the availability of organic Banana. Health aspect and quality of fruit’s have a great impact on consumers. People are happily willing to pay up to 10% to 20% premium for a fruit like Banana, if organic. India needs to increase production of organic Bananas and follow post-harvest handling rule for organic fruits. The findings from this study suggest that there have to be stringent policy implementations to prevent such blatant policy breach, not just in metros like Mumbai but throughout
When the outbreak of the Panama disease began the United Fruit ordered their field workers to put disinfectant on their tools and clothing in order to decrease the spread of disease. They burned the diseased plants, which took care of the infected bananas, but companies still had problems with workers transferring diseases. Spreading the disease was not intentional but it happened. This lead the United Fruit to begin research programs to fight the disease in 1923 so that it did not worsen. The US department of agriculture had argued the cultivation a disease resistan species would have a higher success rate, for example, the “Chinese banana.” This fruit has a short shelf life though and was not very marketable to be purchased. So the US and British research program both began breeding programs to develop disease resistant varieties, but sadly this was not successful either. It was difficult to find a product that would work, biology did not work, farms kept moving to healthier land, and this created schisms among companies and the government. The diseases were driving the production costs and soil exploitation up, fruit companies were already under public scrutiny for their land grabs and extensive holdings. They all needed a solution; the solution was when the Cavendish bananas began to be boxed in production, which then opened jobs for women. All of the bananas traveling to the
John Soluri 's Banana Cultures Agriculture, Consumption and Environmental Change in Honduras and the United States, (Which for spatial and repetitive purposes, I will refer to as Banana Cultures for the remainder of the paper), introduces the reader to a world of corporate greed, consumption, and environmental change using the history of the common, everyday, fruit, the banana. He explores the various political occurrences, health problems, and changes in mass media through the rise of the consumption of the banana in the United States, and around the globe.
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.
On January 4, 2011 President Obama signed into law The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). This law has shed new light on the safety and security of our food supply. The last update to the food safety laws in the United States was in 1938. The food safety modernization act pays special attention at trying to modernize the food safety policies in the United States in hopes to prevent problems and concerns before they happen. As we all know, most of our food comes from overseas or sometimes from your neighboring state. The food products travel by car, truck, airplane, boat, or even train. We are all very happy to be receiving our bananas from Costa Rica and all of our other fresh fruits and vegetables that are imported into the United States, but we never stop to think about what pathogens are contaminating our produce and other foods on the way over and if they are safe for us to eat. In an article by Neal Fortin, he states that the law also gives the FDA new standards to hold imported foods to the domestic food standards and it also encourages the FDA to establish and develo...
Introduction: The situation of Chiquita Brands International is serious. Bananas, the main source of revenue from Chiquita, cause an ethically questionable situation. Bananas are a very popular food in Europe and the United States because they are inexpensive and convenient. Especially the price of the fruit can only be provided because the bananas are grown in large plantations along the Equator. These large plantations cause social and environmental problems.
Of all the analyzed factors, the problem in the industry is availability of cheap and plenty non-organic foods. While organic foods emphasize on health, it does not provide alternative of cheap foods. Majority of the population, perhaps due to the information they have at hand, consumers prefer buying depending on economies of scale rather than observing their health. For example, a large family will prefer large amount of food, which are cheaper as compared to the same amount of organic food but at double or triple price. Therefore, even competitors of WFM face the same problem of alternative non organic food in the market that come cheap and
Almonds are tasty and healthy snacks that are capable of increasing intellectual ability. Almonds are a healthy treat and it possesses several health benefits. It is one of the most beloved nuts of humans and it is consumed in different ways. Almond oil, almond butter, almond milk and almond flour are different forms of almonds. It is sprinkled over desserts in its crushed form to make it tastier. Almonds are a power packed with high calories but in spite of that, it helps people to reduce their weight.
With the world’s population continuing to increase, the demand for food is higher than ever. This increase in food demand also calls for more efficient ways of growing and providing the food. Two methods that are very controversial are the organic and conventional method. While many people support the organic method because of its known benefits, others feel that it is an over inflated industry that cheats consumers out of their money. But recently many studies have disproved those critics. These studies prove that Organic food is a better choice than conventional because it is better for the environment, avoids the use of chemicals, and is generally more beneficial.
In a new view from comprehensive “research reveals that organic crops have higher levels of antioxidants and less pesticide residue then conventional produce” (Sifferlin). This study shows that reasons to by organic produce would benefit the consumer’s body. They would receive more antioxidants and less harmful pesticides. Agreeing with Sifferlin, Kluger brought to a light a different study “conducted by the Organic Center, a nonprofit group in Boulder, Colo., organic produce was found to be 25% higher in phenolic acids and antioxidants. ‘It’s these components that are deficient in Americans diet, so that makes this finding especially significant’” (Kluger). Americans consume genetically modified foods for breakfast, lunch, and diner, so it’s no surprise that they are lacking the vital nutrients that are limited in modified foods. If shoppers would buy untouched and untampered foods, they would benefit from the rich source of
There are some challenges that still need to be recognized. Some people may say that farmer’s markets aren't beneficial to the community because farmers could use GMO seeds or different pesticides in the growing process of the fruits and veggies. According to Seeds of Deception, “A GMO is the result of a laboratory process where genes from the DNA of one species are extracted and artificially forced into the genes of an unrelated plant or animal”. Many people prefer non GMO fruits and vegetables. “Many pesticides have estrogen like actions in the body (xenoestrogens) and may be linked to breast and uterine cancer as well as other chronic pain and health issues. This has been demonstrated in animal models," Bailey told Medical Daily. The goal of fruits and vegetables are to get healthy, but these GMO seeds and different pesticides could damage the nutrients in fruits and cause even further health
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.
In this Century, United States face tons of problems especially Climate Changes due of illegal process in Agriculture. Industrial Agriculture is a main farmland in Unites States. Most of the crops produced in large scale and livestock operation. In Agriculture, there are producers and consumers make the food system to work and grow. Producers are person, company and country that makes or supply products for sale. What I have learned about them is producers just want to earn big amount of money. They do not care about human’s health, they just keep making products that can danger people. For example, the factory farming without proper sanitation. On the other hand, Consumers, like us, are the people who goes shopping for food every day. Sometimes we just get the products and didn’t read the labels or nutrition facts of the food. Consumers didn’t know what is behind the process of food. In this essay, I will focus on the main problem in Agriculture that we are facing right now.
During the delivery of RTE Vegetables the trucks and the containers that are used by the producer are created, sustained, cleaned, sanitized and used in a way that avoids food contamination and reduces the growth of microbes. Throughout the delivery, the trucks and the containers that are used are only devoted to food use only. However, when the trucks used transport food and non-food products, there are several measures taken to limit the type of non-food products to those that do not have a risk to food products after an adequate cleaning of the truck. Before receiving the raw vegetables from farmers, the manufacturer inspect the raw items. The manufacturer also inspect the final products after being processed to make sure that they are free from contaminants and are appropriate for transportation to markets. There are special program for cleaning and sanitizing the trucks and container are kept in place by the manufacturer to ensure that adequate cleaning is achieved. Similarly, when the loaded trucks and containers are being unloaded, there are specific measures taken to prevent the damage and contaminatio...
For the microbiological analysis, banana slices (10 g) were removed aseptically from each package and were transferred into a sterile plastic package to which 90 ml Ringer’s sterile solution was added. The sample and the ringer solution were blended for 60 s by using a stomacher, 400 Circulator (Seward Ltd, Thetford, UK). The Portuguese standard methods, EN ISO 4833 (ISO, 2003), was followed for counting total aerobic plate count (TPC).
Food safety is an increasingly important public health issue. Governments all over the world are intensifying their efforts to improve food safety. Food borne illnesses are diseases, usually either infectious or toxic in nature, caused by agents that enter the body through the ingestion of food. “In industrialized countries, the percentage of people suffering from food borne diseases each year has been reported to be up to 30%. In the United States of America, for example, around 76 million cases of food borne diseases, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, are estimated to occur each year.” (Geneva 2)