When most people think of where their food comes from, they probably think of a farm. Perhaps their farm has a happy farmer and his family making conscious decisions about the food they are making. The farmer could be the one in charge of how his food is created and what growing practices he/she chooses to follow. However, the sad reality is that the food industry is no longer controlled by the farmers themselves, they are controlled by big businesses.

These businesses have a lot more power than the average Joe thinks they do.  Most of these large corporations have a strong hold on the average farmer. These large businesses often put farmers in crippling debt and force the to follow unsafe farming practices. With most of these businesses having a huge monopoly within the farming realm, most farmers have no choice but to succumb to whatever unsafe practices that company wants. Large companies such as Monsanto, have even gone as far as controlling what type of seed farmers use and how they use it. They use scare tactics to keep farmers from speaking out or breaking these unfair rules.

But the corruption does not stop there.

Almost all of these large food production companies have members running for important positions in government. This leads to an ever present bias within government towards the food industry rather than public safety. These government positions allow for companies to have control over what safety precautions are made, which often benefits the company rather than the consumer.

In the world of food production, money is a much larger concern than food safety. The people within this growing industry are fully aware that their food is unsafe, yet they continue with these bad practices because they are more profitable.

But that leads to big question: what is making our food unsafe?

You could point to a number of culprits: pesticides, antibiotics, pathogens, and animal feed. However, these are just a few of the many problems within the food industry.

Pesticides:

So if pesticides are the problem, what don’t more people choose organic? This is the question many people seem to be asking. The problem with this statement is that the answer may not lie within the organic food industry. In a study done by Stanford University, is was found that organic foods did have less pesticides than conventional food. However, E.Coli was far more present in the organically grown food. In an article written by Blake Hurst, it was revealed that even the organic food industry is not entirely pesticide free. While the pesticides being used are not as strong, the organic farmer will often have to use more pesticides in order to make the less potent kind more successful. So in regards to pesticides, there does not seem to be a way around it entirely.

Antibiotics & Pathogens:

The reason why antibiotics are used in food production is not necessarily a bad one at first glance. The reason is to prevent sick animals from creating sick consumers after eating that animals product. However, the more antibiotics are used in animals, the more antibiotic resistant bacteria are formed. This resistant bacteria contaminates the food that comes from that sick animals, which can then make the consumer develop an antibiotic resistant infection. While the CDC says that the use of antibiotics in the food industry should only be used to address sickness in animals, not to promote growth. However, even animals that are not sick get large doses of these antibiotics in order to create a bigger ‘super’ animal to create more food.

Animal Feed:

What do you think a cow eats? Most people would say grass, right? Well the sad truth is that most cows and other animals no longer eat grass, they eat corn and other waste products. These waste products are not limited to processed feathers, poultry litter, floor waste, feces, plastic pellets, and other forms of meat. As we know, cows and chickens are not carnivores and probably should not be eating feces from other animals. The reason why the food industry does this is because this type of ‘animal feed’ makes the animals fatter creating more food production per animal, which is then more profit for the food industry. This also creates less waste from the food industry since rather than throwing these things away, they feed them to the animals. The problem with this practice though, is that whatever the animal eats directly influences the consumer. In a study done by the Animal Protein Producers Industry, salmonella was found is about one fourth of feed on average. To simplify, if the cows are eating salmonella contaminated food, and then the consumer is eating it, there is a much higher likelihood that the consumer will then be contaminated as well.

So, why does all of this matter to the consumer?

It matters because the consumer should have a say in how their food is being made. They should also be knowledgable about what exactly the risks are to what they are eating. If the consumer is unaware of the practices being used in the food industry, how will they be able to fight it? They won’t.

The food industry needs a completely renovation. The government should not be biased towards companies using unsafe practices. The people that make decisions on consumer health should be the consumer themselves, not the company getting a paycheck. Th only people that should have a say in what a safe farming practice is, is the consumers and the FDA or other food safety commissions.

A change needs to be made, and while change may take time it is definitely worth the wait to save even one life from dangerous food consumption. Food should not be made on a conveyer belt. Cows and other animals were meant to eat grass and be able to roam around. While these new techniques have made quite the profit for these big companies, the consumer is suffering greatly.  Consumer health needs to come before profit, and the only way to do that is to fight the industry for change.