Pierce Noonan

Prof. Amy Barone

WRT205

Unit 1 Blog Article

The Truth Behind Food Saftey

The way we eat has changed more over the past 50 years than the previous 10,000 years before that. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? It is a great representation of the idea on how much change our generation has accomplished. However, when we have a food system that is being brought up with topics like federal oversight, E. coli breakouts, and even abusing and bullying local farmers and seed planters; there is definitely still room for improvement. Our food system is being blamed for lying to the consumers about the truth behind the production of food and exactly how safe these products on our shelves of a food market are. The major companies in our food system are abusive to smaller workers to an extent that it needs to be contained. Federal oversight to the point where the consumer is hurt by food borne illnesses is a major problem and there must be an answer to this issue.

There are food industries and producers that oversee consumer health in exchange for high production rates and vast money income. Federal oversight is a problem that occurs when it comes to the production of food. There have been numerous documentaries, articles, blogs, and other pieces of writing that try to state the overall issue of federal oversight. In one of the highest viewed documentaries ever, Food Inc., producer Robert Kenner said, “The industry doesn’t want you to know exactly what you are eating.” This is because what we are actually putting into our system is much different than what it tastes like. From a Consumer Reports article, “You Are What They Eat;” the title says it all. We are eating what the animals ate in the past and this is not always a good thing. From this article, it is spoken that “Cattle and chickens are still given plant-based feed: Corn and soybean meal make up 70 percent to 90 percent of most commercial animal feed. But the remaining 10 percent to 30 percent of feed can differ radically from what cows and poultry would eat in their natural habitat.” That 10 percent to 30 percent could harm the animals and then that means it is likely to harm the consumer as well. Furthermore, “The government Accountability Office, the congressional watchdog, has called the US Food and Drug Administration’s data on inspections of animal-feed producers “severely flawed.” When the FDA is being called out for flawed inspections, then what else is there to protect the consumers?

Not only does the government and food industries neglect their flawed work, but consumers are being punished with food borne illnesses, like E. coli. E. coli is a bacteria that forms from fecal matter and is proven to be harmful and in some cases fatal. From Food Inc., expert Barbara Kowalcyk lost her 2 and half year old son to this deadly disease. This is a loss of life because of the lack of moral and sustainability in the food system. Along with the loss of life to her son Kevin, E. coli breakouts across the US have been sprouting including the most recent Chipotle Mexican food chain incident. According to the FDA website, “The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) along with state and local officials are investigating two separate outbreaks of E. coli O26 infections that have been linked to food served at Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants in several states.” According to this credible website, as of January 27, 2016, the CDC reported a total of 55 infected people with 21 reported hospitalizations within these states. This along with all of the small cases of other food borne illnesses that aren’t reported are a major issue. How can we eat something if we are not 100 percent sure it is healthy enough to make it through the night without having to call a doctor? E. coli merits extra attention because it shows how well the food system and society changes and how to provide new opportunities for the spreading of disease through food. From an article by Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, “Resisting Food Safety,” “E. coli infections originate from farm animals, and such animals increasingly harbor this variant.” Running back to the original topic of federal oversight; where the food is produced is where the problem holds and turning the other way from such conflicts results in lack of trust in the food production process, especially sometimes resulting in the worst case, loss of life.

Not only does this disease erect at the hands of the producers watch, the ingredients farmers give their animals are creating other issues as well. From the Consumer Reports article, mad-cow disease is brought up and it is explained that such an illness is transferred up the food chain. From this article, a protein known as a prion, “can be malformed and infect cud-chewing animals with mad cow disease.” This illness is spread throughout the community it lives in and eventually infects other organisms beyond that ecosystem. Even in an article, “Organic Illusions,” by a Missouri farmer and frequent contributor to The American, Blake Hurst, he argues the effects of organic against conventional styles of farming. It is stated that, “organic foods were considerably less likely than conventional foods to have pesticide residues, although organic foods were higher in e. coli.” No matter how you make food or treat it, there are chances of e. coli. However, food borne illness is a problem that effects the consumer because producers and whoever is in charge do not commit to the responsibility of providing healthy food products.

In most cases, farmers farm for bigger companies and they are doing what their contract tells them to do. For example, an expert chicken farmer, Carol Morison, had her contract terminated by a bigger company because she wouldn’t upgrade to the closed window ventilation housing. She was one of the only people that admitted, on Food Inc., that what farming has become shouldn’t be called farming anymore, rather an assembly line. It is a problem that the people like Barbara Kowalcyk, who lost her son to a disease that came from a food that got passed by inspection, can’t even tell a documentary analyst what she ate and why because she was afraid of being sued by the food agency. Not only is federal oversight a major problem, but the way the food agency is protected by themselves is also a major problem.

Abuse is a word that is used in just about any category, you name it. Child abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, verbal abuse, and even food abuse. Small time farmers are being abused and treated maliciously. From Food Inc., a seed farmer laughed when he was asked the question, “What happens if a farmer saves the seeds?” He then answered, “There is only one company that does this now and that is Monsanto.” Then, he explains that Monsanto will investigate anyone who tried to save seed. Another seed cleaner Moe Parr was brought to trial after Monsanto had set up an investigation into him and other local seed cleaners. Moe Parr said, “What scared me the most…” and then explained that Monsanto had records of every call, text, and credit card purchase he has made. Moe Parr had to settle with Monsanto because he could no longer pay the bills. Moe Parr was bullied by Monsanto and he is definitely not the only one to ever have been. The almost monopolized company of Monsanto, is not even worried about the government or other industries on stopping them because of the amount of income and power they indeed control.

There are so many questions that can be asked about what is being done to prevent the bad habits of our food system. How much can we, the consumers, do to make a change? Well we can only do as much as we are allowed to. The food system may have changed extremely, however it is in need of an even bigger change. Many people like Robert Kenner, producer of Food Inc., and Marion Nestle, nutrition specialist and writer of “Resisting Food Safety,” are announcing the truth and are fighting to make a difference in our food society. Others like Consumer Reports’, “You Are What They Eat,” and Blake Hurst’s, “Organic Illusions,” are arguing to inform the reader and let the world know exactly what is at steak(stake) when it comes to the food that we eat every single day.

 

Reflection Questions

Unit I / 10%

Using the homework, in-class workshops, revision workshops, etc.

• Describe your understanding of the “writer’s project”? How were you able to identify the texts’ “project”? Discuss your own “project” as it pertains to this particular blog article.

The writer’s project is the idea the writer wants to project to the reader. The project of a text is what the reader is objected to find out and is the idea behind the entire writing. A text that helped me understand what the writer’s project should be was Joseph Harris’ “Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts.” Joseph Harris explains in a professional point of view that, “A project is usually something far more complex than a main idea, since it refers not to a single concept but to a plan of work, to a set of ideas and questions that a writer ‘throws forward’” (Page 17). To identify a texts project, you must simply figure out what it is the writer wants the reader to think about the text. For this Unit 1 blog article, I was able to identify the texts’ project by first understanding the assignment. My project for my blog was intended to be telling the reader the actual truth about the food society. Telling the reading all about federal oversight along with the effects of it including food borne illnesses.

• Describe your completion of the “Sorting it Out” workshop? What sections were most beneficial to the development of your ideas—and why? Discuss how this workshop assisted in development of draft and/or assignment organization?

The sorting it our workshop was very helpful for the completion of this blog. My most beneficial section was definitely section E. Getting a group of words about each passage and seeing which articles go together well and support each other was very helpful on linking references. Also the source direct passage section was helpful for going between the articles and maintaining a strong detailed paragraph.

• Describe your understanding of synthesis. What is its importance? How did it manifest within your drafts and/or final blog article? Provide examples.

Synthesizing a text does not just mean summarizing it, however it is similar. Synthesizing a text means combining ideas and allowing an evolving understanding of the text itself rather than just stating the important points of a text. Synthesizing is important because while you are indeed summarizing the text, you are combining and proving the facts at the same time. Combining two different passages from two completely different texts, however still getting the point across to the reader is a very good skill for writers. I synthesized in my sorting it out workshop a lot along with the drafts and final piece. I combined the ideas of 3 different writers’ blogs to correlate into one idea (Federal Oversight or Food borne illnesses.)

• Describe your own accomplishment (ofsomething) during this unit.

Personally for me I believe during this unit I achieved a lot. One big and important accomplishment that I think is because of Amy is speaking out in front of a class without being nervous or embarrassed. I am not a very loud person and public speaking is one of my least favorite things to do. Also, writing wise, I believe I have a better understanding on writing blogs or articles in general. Usually most of my papers in the past have been essays where i would not need all of the tools I used in this unit. Synthesizing, along with creating good leads were also two accomplishments I had.

• Discuss the evolution of the main idea. Where did you begin (include the example) and show its progress (again, include example) throughout the drafting/revision process. To what do you attribute its evolution?

The main idea of my blog for my paper really did not change much. From the first draft to the last I kept the same approach on writing the article. My main idea was federal oversight and the food borne illness we receive as the consumers. In my intro I state that pretty clearly and it was the basic structure for my entire piece. I began without an introduction and then produced an intro and closing at my final draft.

• Discuss what organizational strategies you implemented in order to structure this blog article. Provide examples from a section(s) of an earlier draft and other excerpts in later drafts to support your response.

While writing this blog article, organizational strategies were implied. I created a ‘sorting it out’ workshop to help me synthesize my article by combining multiple passages from multiple articles. I created drafts along with writing responses to blackboard about class activities which ended up helping a lot in the creation of this blog article. For example, the “thoughts on Nestle” discussion helped me get a better understanding of the article by Nestle. This along with the Kanye West writers project, which also helped by giving me a better understanding on how to synthesize an article with a song. Organizing this article was pretty simple with everything I was given to help me. Without these, my article would be all over the place and I would not have been as successful.

• Provide an example of the final draft where you successfully synthesize 3 texts in a concise and direct manner. Discuss how this evolved throughout the drafting process for you.

In my final draft I synthesized texts multiple times. In the second body paragraph I began talking about food borne illnesses and the effect federal oversight has on the consumer. I combined the works of Food Inc. along with “Resisting Food Safety” by Nestle and my own article from the FDA website. I talk about how a little boy was killed because of food borne illnesses and I then linked that idea to the recent outbreak of the chipotle Mexican restaurant e. coli scandal along with some information on e. coli from the Nestle article. I tried to involve as many articles as I could with as much information and combinations and this was definitely one of the trickier parts to this piece of writing.

• Discuss the evolution of the ‘lede’ in earlier drafts and its final version (provide examples of each): where did you begin, what feedback did you receive, and how did it end up in final blog article?

At first I had no idea what to use as my lead. So I decided to go with a fun fact if you would say about the evolution of our food system and it ended up working out for me. After thinking of the lead, which I got from Food Inc., I decided to run with it and my article ended up becoming more and more complete and organized. I got good feedback from my peer advisor on my article about my lead and that was a major reason why it ended up staying. Along with the fact that it is perfect for my project as well, I thought this was one of my stronger areas.

• Name a specific writing/researching/revision goal you’d like to work on during the next Unit projects.

I would like to figure out how to incorporate better vocabulary along with different ways to keep the reader interested. I do not know a lot of tricks about writing in general and I would enjoy writing a lot more if I could read a piece I have written and say wow did I really write this it is really good! I read other students drafts and say wow, solid writing and then I read mine and I think the professor will not enjoy mine as much as others. Other than that idea, I would like to become a better reviser, meaning I want to be able to edit my paper with authority and believe in my changes to a draft. Sometimes I do not want to change too much to an article, maybe I am just lazy or I am afraid I will put a dent in my paper.