From Slaughterhouse To Slaughtering American’s Health Paul McCartney once said that “if slaughterhouses had glass walls everyone would be vegetarian”. With such claim Paul McCartney aimed to bring attention to the lack of knowledge the general public has about what goes on behind the closed doors of these slaughterhouses. He claims that if the public was exposed to the facts, they would stop eating the meat produced in these places. In this paper, I explore a more broad but similar topic, the lack of transparency by some of the biggest food corporations and the lack of information the general population has about the health benefits, or rather the lack of such, in the majority of mass produced processed food. I will explore this topic by using various works such as Roald Dahl’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory(1964), The Jungle(1906) by Upton Sinclair, Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation(2001), the film Super Size Me (2004), a nonfiction piece titled “The Way We Eat Now” (2004) by Craig Lambert, and the word “abattoir”.
As consumers, we might feel disappointed and angry after reading Moss’s essay. Most of the food companies don’t care about consumers’ health. For them, following the market strategy and earning profit are the most important things. Food companies even change the nutritional profile to make those food products look healthier. Consider that, before food companies employees going to work in the food company, they might not know about all these secrets about food
In David Freedman’s essay How Junk food Can End Obesity, Freedman makes the claim to policy arguing that instead of demonizing processed foods, Americans should instead support the idea and production of healthier processed and junk foods. He calls on the public to recognize that while many products on the market these days are labeled as “wholesome” and “healthy”, consumers should learn to become aware of the fat and calorie content in these products because many times they have the same- if not more- fat and calorie contents as that of a typical Big Mac or Whopper. In his essay, Freedman primarily places blame on the media and the wholesome food movement for the condemnation of the fast and processed food industries saying, “An enormous amount of media space has been dedicated to promoting the notion that all processed food, and only processed food, us making us sickly and overweight” (Freedman), he further expresses that this portrayal of the
The “mentality of uniformity, conformity and cheapness applied widely and on a large scale has all kinds of unintended consequences” (Food, Inc.). That is the main situation mentioned in the documentary, Food Inc. Food Inc. is a documentary about the nation’s food industry. Robert Kenner, director of Food Inc., made the film find out where our food comes from and how the food industry has changed over time. The reason behind the documentary is to have people think about where our food comes from and to think about how we could develop a food system that would be sustainable. Over time, the food system has taken over by the industrialization of our food, and the consumers are denied the right to be informed what is in their food and discouraged
Obesity has been one of the largest epidemics for years now, but only recently been one of the top three causes of death in the U.S.. The real cause of obesity has also been quite controversial due to the fact that no one can unanimously blame one person; some saying that the consumers are to blame for buying and eating the food, others saying that big companies are to blame for lack of disclosure. big companies deceive consumers, and as a result are solely responsible for obesity. Even though food labels are presented on the back of almost every store bought product, consumers don't always know what they are ingesting, however, this can be prevented with more disclosure. In paragraph ten of “ An Equal Shot: Big Fat America, Michael Maiello states, “By all means put chemicals, hormones,
For a long time, one of the most controversial topics of conversation has been the rise of obesity in America. Through the expansion and growth of the food industry, responsible for the exportation of healthy food products, companies have abused their control by disregarding the health and safety of their animals. As a result of this negligence, unhealthy food is manufactured and distributed to American consumers. Responsible for the welfare of products, the food industry is accountable for America’s obesity epidemic through the manipulation of advertising, science, and animal welfare. While it is the public’s decision in choosing what foods to eat, consumers do not have a choice in how the food they buy is manufactured.
Our current age of unprecedented and ever-expanding access to information, we can find out where our food comes from and the impacts that it produced along the way from field to plate. Accordingly, as Scott Canon discusses in his article, “Why You Can’t Sit Down to Eat without Making a Communication,” American consumers are discovering some disturbing things about the food’s origins and production costs, both in terms of its environmental damage and the suffering it can cause, whether for the humans who raise and harvest it or for the animals we eat. This was written against a context of increased concern about climate change, our polluted and overfished oceans, increased rates of food-influenced diseases like diabetes and cancer, and growing
According to Burros on fast food labeling, both the FDA and the Agriculture Department acknowledge their authority for the Federal Government to require ingredient labeling of fast foods, however, they leave enforcement to States (1987, para 9). In conclusion, the consumer has spoken through consumer groups to push both the Federal and State governments to be more assertive and better regulate and label products to educate all consumers on the ingredients and overall healthiness of
In her article, "What's Natural About Our Natural Products," Marion Nestle argues that the food industry misleads consumers by using terms such as "natural" and "organic" to market their products. Consumers who are not aware of the differences between these terms may end up purchasing products that are not as healthy as they seem. This issue is particularly relevant for low-income individuals who may not have access to reliable sources of information about healthy eating. One solution to this problem is to provide education on healthy eating habits.
While this is agreed upon by many, restaurant owners and others argue that this causes food to be too consistent and, furthermore, makes it more costly to package a product. In this essay, I will argue the positive and negative points of calorie labeling in order to give a better view on the argument. On one hand, requiring certain food sellers to label the calories on the package of the food will allow consumers to know what they are eating, which indirectly impacts their food choices. This allows consumers to make better choices when it comes to eating, or at least make them aware of their choice if they choose otherwise. In many cases, this will decrease obesity simply by making people more conscious about what they are eating.
Many Americans base their daily meal on hyper-processed calories that have or serve little to no nutritional value. Today, in the 21st century, obesity is constantly on the rise and is an issue that is constantly swept under the rug. “For every one supermarket, there are five fast food restaurants in the United States”, with supermarkets being outnumbered five to one, it isn’t a surprise that eating unhealthy is so common. Well-known essayist and writer, Mark Bittman, in his article, “Is Junk Food Really Cheaper”, published in the New York times, argues that junk food is not cheaper and junk food is held on a pedestal as a go-to simply because making a meal at home can not be produced in a snap of a finger, and society is more so lazy then cheap or indigent.
Time for Intervention Certainly, deciding what to eat is a personal decision. Food industries and food chains offer what works the best for them and they often work on a supply and demand basis. Moreover, the problem arises when the indexes of health problems related to inadequate nutrition in the United States are extremely high and no one seems to care. Although overweight can be caused to factors other than malnutrition, obesity increases the risks of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases; diseases that have a severe impacts in individual’s health. Yet, many analysts agree that the government should not intervene or regulate the availability or the marketing of certain foods, arguing that it undermines the importance of
The quality and ingredients in our food has become a major topic of debate in recent years. As the rates of obesity, chronic disease, and the cost of health care continues to rise it is obvious that something needs to change. A starting point would be the update of current food labels, placing warning labels on unhealthy foods, and even taxing unhealthy foods. The University of Virginia recently conducted an experiment on the labeling and taxing of unhealthy foods. They placed warning labels on vending machine foods and added a tax to the foods that were deemed the unhealthiest.
Consumers also have freedoms and rights that are not being respected. Everyone has a right to know what is in their food, a right to decide what ingredients they want to eat, and a right to be able to exercise informed consent on their own (Bobe). These rights should be a motivation to require labeling at the very least. The government and food producers are more concerned with economics than with human rights and human
Food should be safely consumed without unnecessary thoughts of fear or regret within the individuals, however companies relentlessly target consumers by chemically modifying food to increase profit. One must not feel the need to worry about lethal products or ingredients that are present within purchased food. The manipulation of the consumer by major food companies presents a major issue that requires a quick solution in order to improve health within America. Many within America suffer from addiction to many food products. The constant craving and consumption of these goods leads to the accumulation of disease and can cause drastic weight gain.
