The Corrupt Food Industry: Addressing the Problem

Too many people pick up food products off of the shelves and put it into their shopping cart without knowing what exactly it is or what the product has been through. After watching an absolutely disturbing documentary called "Food Inc." I started to feel strongly about the problems of the Food Industry. The problem is that our food is no longer being produced in an all American farm, but in dirty abusive factories. Not only is the food unhealthy for us after all of the processing, but the workers and animals are being abused. I know that I single handily can not change all of the problems with the twisted food industry, but I know that I can do my part by making others aware so that they can make sure that they can make fully informed decisions about what they are putting into their carts at the grocery store and eventually into their bodies.

In the past fifty years, there has been such a vast change in the Industrial Food Industry. Food went from being grown naturally to being processed and packaged for convenience and cheapness. This is where the problem starts, and the greed for money is to blame. The industry has been altered in order to find convenience in making product faster because we all know, time is money. It has been altered in a manner of scamming to get all you can out of as little as possible to of course, save money. It has all become a game of money and profit rather than right and wrong and I have found more than enough examples to back up this statement. 


My first example would be found in this link that I have pasted below. This link is a short clip that talks about how the Food Industry is corrupt. This link is just an example of other people letting it be known to all that there is a problem with the Food Industry and something needs to be done about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppL_UuN73Fc 

The Corrup Food Industry: Harm to Animals

After doing some research, I found something that left me absolutely appalled and speechless, how chicken is produced in factories such as Tyson Foods for example. Chickens used to be loved and cared for by their farmers. They were kept in a barn with their families and were tended to at all hours of the day. "We focus on treating our birds and the land we raise them on with respect and environmentally sound practices. Our bottom line is responsible farming and minimizing our global impact, not profit!" says the Fikel family, owners of a farm in California. They were used to lay ends and occasionally get killed for their meat. That was the way that most Americans did and still do imagine a farm. But this image that is embedding into our heads is not a reality any longer. Chickens now belong to the food company from the moment that they are dropped off at a farm to the moment that they are taken from the farms. When the chickens are at the farm they are fed foods that are injected with chemicals that increase their size by 100%. The breasts are chemically injected to a point where some chickens cannot stand on their own two legs without falling to their chest by the time they are fully grown. The chemicals will not only make the chickens grow twice as large, but also grow twice as fast. This is my first example of the food industry only thinking or time and getting all they can from what they have. This is only the animal and farming portion of this crooked business. Another problem that falls under the harm of the animals is how they are treated when being brought into the factory. Animals are thrown around and scooped up with machinery like they are dirt. We need to remember that animals might be just animals to us but they are still living and breathing things and deserve some quality of life.





In this link that I have posted below, you will see how a group of chickens are treated when on a factory farm. This is the reality of a farm and you will see the harm and abuse that the chickens go through. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI1pxQeIZkM&feature=related

The Corrupt Food Industry: Kevin's Story

When an innocent child is in harms way because of unsafe processing of meat, that is where the line should be drawn. It all starts with the feeding of a cow. A cow is made to eat and graze on grass, but of course the Food Industry found a faster and cheaper way to grow the cows to produce more meat. Cows are now being fed corn for two main reasons: its cheap and it makes the cows fat, leading it to produce more meat. The only issue with this idea is that too much intake of corn will eventually infect the cows with Escherichia coli or also known as E. Coli. “E. Coli is a member of a large group of bacterial germs that inhabit the intestinal tract of humans and other warm-blooded animals” (Clark 1). When E. Coli exists inside of an animal and then the animal is slaughtered and processed into the food that you pick up off of the shelf. Little Kevin Michael Kowalcyk was stricken with E. Coli that was in a hamburger that he ate. At the age of one two years old, Kevin went from being a healthy normal child to being dead within a matter or twelve days. This is the result of the food industries need for money. If this story doesn’t show that the industry is beyond twisted, then nothing will. 700 were reported ill and four children were reported dead due to E. Coli outbreaks. When things like this happen, recalls of the meat are demanded. Recalls were made in 1998, 2001, and 2002. The recall in 2002, twenty-two million pounds of meat was recalled nationwide. That is enough meat to feed about every person in America a hamburger. As time has gone on, bacterias were also found in a variety of foods from greens to peanut butter to jello. Deadly bacterias being found in such basic foods is scary but encouraging to be cautious.

In the link that I posted below, the story of Kevin's death is told by his very own mother. She tells about all of the suffering that her son had to go through and the cause the this suffering, the corrupt Food Industry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfoHqxUIXuY&feature=related

The Corrupt Food Industry: Leads to Health Problems

Problems with illness and overweight in our country come mainly from the processed food that is served at fast food places. Processed food end up being very unhealthy for your body. Processed foods are high in sodium and fat. Many Americans choose these foods because they are fast, convenience, and cheap. Fast food is a prime example of this. It is fast, hence fast food. It is convenient when open twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. It is so convenient that it is now made to where you don’t even have to take a step out of your car. A fast food meal can cost as low as one dollar for a hamburger. The 3 perks: Fast, convenient, and cheap. What Americans don’t fully understand is the negative impact that they have on your health because they are too focused on those 3 perks. This is the sort of problem that leads Americans into being overweight, eventually leading to obesity. “Obesity meaning that you are 20% or more over your ideal body weight” (Stockley 1). Being overweight can lead to endless health issues: high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, osteoarthritis, cancer, gallstones, etc. Making these kind of processed foods a habit and a part of your daily routine are how you end with an illness or even dead. 

The Corrupt Food Industry: Multiple Solutions

The issue has been addressed, the many problems have been broken down, and now its time to come to a conclusion with sharing the solutions. Many people are not aware of the situation, others are aware but don’t bother trying to make a difference because they know the impact of one person won’t hit a corporation that larger as hard as it would be needed to be hit. But, if every person did their own small portion, these small portions would add up to one big impact. Maybe some people were waiting for someone else to make the first move, but now that Food Inc. has made that first initial move, there are no more excuses. In order to make a change, one would have to do things such as speaking out to the USDA or write letters showing your concern for the problem. Kevin’s mother has been working for the past ten years to pass a law, Kevin’s Law, which would give the USDA the power to shut down any plants that repeatedly produce contaminated products. This has still not officially become a law and is now a bill formally known as the Meat and Poultry Pathogen Reduction and Enforcement Act of 2003.  Hundreds of letters and emails have been sent to support this bill. Another thing you individually could do would be to boycott the specific food companies that are causing these problems. Avoiding brands like Tyson are how you would go about this. This will not only begin to prove a point but is also an extra precaution to your safety. This will also open you to a whole new assortment of foods: healthy, natural, and organic. Foods like these will improve your weight, which prevents your from hundreds illnesses. It isn’t a common thought to think that something as small as reevaluating what you place in your cart at the grocery store can save something as huge as a life.

     

The Corrupt Food Industry: Bibliography

Unknown. "Kevin Michael Kowalcyk Infected with E. Coli." Supporting Kevin's Law. 18 Mar. 2005. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. <http://www.cspinet.org/foodsafety/kevinslawbrochure.pdf>.


Rally Congress. "Revive Kevin's Law | Petition2Congress." Petition2Congress : Take Action | Petition2Congress. 12 Mar. 2009. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. <http://www.petition2congress.com/3235/revive-kevins-law/>.


Nestle, Marion. "Chapter 6." Food Politics How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. Berkeley, Calif. ˜[u.a.]œ: Univ. of California, 2010. 469-86. Print.


MaMasHealth. "Dangers of Being Overweight." MamasHealth.com: Simple, Easy to Understand Information about Health. MamasHealth Inc., 14 Jan. 2011. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. <http://www.mamashealth.com/eat/oweightdam.asp>.


Hubbard, Merton R. Statistical Quality Control for the Food Industry. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum, 2003. Print.


Hayhurst, Chris. "Chapter 3." E. Coli. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2004. 64-87. Print.


Food Inc. Dir. Robert Kenner. Perf. N/A. Youtube.com, 2008. Online Documentary.


Clark, Marler. "About E. Coli." E. Coli Food Poisoning | E. Coli Food Poisoning. OutBreak Inc, 2 Feb. 2011. Web. 03 May 2011. <http://www.about-ecoli.com/>.