Isabella Suppa
Prof Phillips
WRT 205
Some Truths About Our Food
“In just 2002, the typical American consumed an average of 137 pounds of beef, chicken, fish, and shellfish per year,” states the article You Are What They Eat. While we are lead to believe that beef, chicken, fish and shellfish are the source of power and protein that are body craves, nonetheless, that is not always the case. Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, and E-Coli are amongst the most common illnesses from these various foods, totaling 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths and most of us are not even aware of this. According to Resisting Food Safety, “Many pathogens infect the animals we use for food without causing any visible signs of illness.” Today a major proponent to these illnesses is the grand scale that our food is being produced on. Unbeknownst to many, the packaging on items is solely an illusion and only a few corporations control the whole industry. Another leading debate among the food industry is weather or not the suppliers and demanders should go organic or remain conventional.
According to Resisting Food Safety “In the late 1980’s health officials found salmonella in one-third of all poultry and estimated that 33 million Americans experienced at least one episode of foodborne microbial illness each year.” With this being said the outbreaks of food borne illnesses over the years are becoming more dangerous and prevalent and food producers are resisting the attempts of government agencies to impose controlled measures- “… food producers repeatedly deny responsibility for foodborne illness…”(Resisting Food Safety). Today, the most blatant illness is the E-Coli outbreak. E-coli derives from infections that come in direct contact with food and water that have been contaminated with feces; the virus then eventually kills red blood cells and can be lethal. Years ago people were only aware of undercooked hamburger, and ground beef to be the only sources of E. coli. However, today things such as fruits, vegetables, apple cider and sprouts have also been infected. A prime example of this was when E. coli swept Chipotle’s all across the country. An obstacle among the 58 cases that broke out is that Chipotle could not find the direct source of the E. coli- possibly stemming from the tomatoes or beef. Food, Inc. displays an instance in beef where the illness was lethal to 2-year-old Kevin. Kevin passed away from E-coli in his burger, and it turned out that the beef Kevin consumed was not recalled until 16 days after. Kevin’s mom sought justice in honor of Kevin, and now a law has now been put into place, “Kevin’s Law”- Kevin’s Law allows the USDA to shut down plants.
We go the supermarket and see dozens of options and brands thinking that each came from different places. However, the truth is that this is just an illusion; much of all the products come from the same plants. As quoted in Food, Inc. a farmer’s goal is to “produce a lot of food, with a small amount of land, at an affordable price.” Frankly, a few major corporations control the whole industry. Small farms raising numerous kinds of crops and animals have been replaced by unfathomably large factory like methods. Today, Tyson is one of the leading meat packing companies in the nation, in 1970 Tyson controlled 5-25% of the market, today Tyson now controls 40-80% of the meat packing market. Inevitably when raising massive populations of chicken or cattle in the same location calls for more manure then can be contained or converted to fertilizer. Normally when farmers raise an average amount of animals they can control and compost the waste, which is a process that usually generates enough heat to kill bacteria. Today that is much harder to get done with the volume of animals inevitably increasing the tendency for contamination and illness.
From personal experience in my local grocery store, I see the organic section continuing to expand each year. Years ago we didn’t have three isles dedicated solely to organic products with options that expand to organic shampoo, make up, toothpaste and much more. According to Food, Inc. the organic industry is growing at an annual rate of 20%, however as stated in Organic Illusions “The quantity of organic sales constitutes considerably less than 4 percent of the total market.” The argument of organic food versus conventional food is a prevalent topic among farmers today. In the article You are what they eat discussed is going organic, “If all animals were raised organically on feed lacking pesticides, animal byproducts and antibiotics- would our food supply be safer? Yes in some ways. There would be less risk of mad cow disease, little or no arsenic in chicken … But there is no guarantee that organic feed is free of garden- variety bacteria, including salmonella.” Ironically when deciding between organic or conventional food, in organic food no check is ever done to test the reliability of these titles. Although you are may be buying organically, organic foods have a higher rates of deadly E. coli, while conventional foods were higher in pesticide residue that substantially less toxic. Lastly, if we were to go organic, there is not enough land readily available for production as quoted in Organic Illusions, “ If food demand nearly doubles over the next 50 years, as its predicted to do, there just isn’t enough arable land available to support a wholesale adoption of organic methods.”
Unfortunately today the reality is that the food we consume on a daily basis is not always safe. Foodborne illnesses have had an affect all across the country in a variety of different ways. Many different kinds of illnesses have been seen with E. coli being the most dominant. The harsh reality is that our food is coming from all the same places and it is very hard to regulate things on such a grand scale. Even organic “all natural” food is not always the answer. While, this may all be the case today- I am hopeful that in the future with awareness our food production ways can be changed and it can lead to a healthier lifestyle.