Even though Roosevelt made changes, there is still a possibility that there are some of these problems in our food production today. In this chapter of “After the Fact”, the author uses the Meat Inspection Act, created by Theodore Roosevelt, to illustrate how all the different elements and issues form the important decisions made in our country.
In the prologue of his book Salt, Sugar, and Fat, Moss recounts a time when CEOs of processed food giants, including General Mills, Pillsbury, and others, gathered to address the issue that many medical experts were slamming processed food as very unhealthy. Moss uses his word choice to paint former General Mills CEO Stephen Sanger in a very bad light when he writes, “But most often, he said, people bought what they liked, and they liked what tasted good. ‘Don’t talk to me about nutrition,’ [Sanger] reportedly said, taking on the voice of the typical consumer. ‘Talk to me about taste, and if this stuff tastes better, don’t run around trying to sell stuff that doesn’t taste good.’ To react to the critics, Sanger said, would jeopardize the sanctity of the recipes that had made his products so successful.
On December 5, 2012, Daisy Luther, a journalist from Northern California wrote a blog entry on the conspiracy surrounding “certified organic” labels that is claimed by some companies and retailers. She brings up the question of whether these labels being stamped on food can really be verified or are they just a way to empty out the wallets of consumers. In the website The Organic Pepper, the blogger generally gives advice for different problems people encounter on a daily basis. Through her blog entries varying from ways to stay healthy to frugal living, Luther states her opinion of governmental interference on our food supply by citing sources from articles from Natural News and Time Magazine. She first starts out by arguing about how the
The three essays assigned this week had several common threads running through them. The strongest core theme is the rapid change in the food cycle in America and the vast changes that have taken place in the way by which we grow, produce, and process the food that average Americans eat. The food we eat now is drastically different from what our grandparents grew up eating and the three essays each examine that in a different way. Another theme is the loss of knowledge by the average consumer about where their food comes from, what it is composed of, and what, if any, danger it might pose to them. “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear” by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele is a harsh look at the realities of food production in a country where large corporations, like Monsanto, have been allowed to exploit laws and loopholes to bend farmers and consumers to their
Penn State football is a major brand with a very large fan base. Many areas of the school benefit from the large amount of revenue generated by the success of the football program. One of the major factors in the Penn State scandal was blind loyalty to one individual with total disregard for the children and the lives he was destroying. Many believe the four individuals that had the control to step in and stop this from happening either did not do so for fear of destroying the program or the hopes that it would somehow stop on its own (Crandall 2013). Jerry Sandusky was a top assistant and defensive mastermind for thirty years with Joe Paterno as the head coach.
For many decades the food system was an endless controversial issue on how our food was processed and the impertioness. This issue influenced Upton Sinclair who wrote a book called “The Jungle”, which exposed the secrets of the meat industry and unsanity poor conditions of the slaughterhouses, indeed, this book inspired president Roosevelt right into action for solutions for the problem, with great struggle the meat inspection Act of 1906 came into law. Till today many reformers and authors are exposing the large corporations that have full control over the food production and how fast foods had a huge affect on families all over the world. For example, Fast Food Nation, Food Inc, and Fast Food Babies had one aim and that was to bring awareness
A group that was knowledgeable of the effects certain chemicals have on food was appointed to regulating the standards of the meat-packing industry. “The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Division of Chemistry was charged with enforcing the Food and Drugs Act, which prohibited interstate commerce in foods, drinks, and drugs that were mislabeled or adulterated” (Badertscher). A chemistry affiliated group was put in charge of monitoring of the produced meat. The meatpacking industry was regulated and supervised constantly to ensure that any and all produce is acceptable for consumption. The meat-packing industry took a massive blow from the popularization of “The Jungle” and its revealing
However, after the novel’s release, the government was forced to create a system to ensure the food being produced was safe and made in an ethical fashion. First was the Pure Food and Drug Act, which ensured that food and drugs being made were clean and free from pathogenic agents. Today, agencies like the FDA and USDA are in charge of ensuring that food is safe, factories are safe, and that the food is healthy and clean enough for eating. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) now monitor beef, and other animals, living, shipping, and slaughtering conditions. They also monitor factories to ensure that damaged or diseased animals are not put into products.
“‘If they’ve got a pulse… we’ll take an application’” (Schlosser 162). Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the American Meal by Eric Schlosser and The Jungle by Upton Sinclair convey corporations treating the public inhumanely. The books discuss how the companies will fix their prices, the lengths they will go to avoid unionization within their establishments, highlight how their employees are struggling to survive on their low wages, and provide a look into the risks of working for these corporations.
When buying food, when do you second guess purchasing it because you don’t know where it came from, how much it costed to be manufactured, or if it has been dyed or chemically treated? Consumers of food are quite oblivious to what is done to the food they purchase and eat. In Harvey Blatt’s, America's Food:What You Don't Know About What You Eat, he states, “We don't think much about how food gets to our tables, or what had to happen to fill our supermarket's produce section with perfectly round red tomatoes and its meat counter with slabs of beautifully marbled steak” (Blatt). He also goes to say, “We don't realize that the meat in one fast-food hamburger may come from a thousand different cattle raised in five different countries. In fact,
“Today in the United States, by the simple acts of feeding ourselves, we are unwittingly participating in the largest experiment ever conducted on human beings.” Jeremy Seifert certainly knows how to get viewers’ attention, as exemplified by the film blurb describing his 2013 documentary, GMO OMG. The frightening depiction of the food industry is one of many efforts to expose consumers of the twenty-first century to the powerful organizations that profit from national ignorance and lack of critical inquiry and involvement. Seifert effectively harnesses the elements of rhetoric throughout his phenomenal argument against remaining complacent about the food industry’s act of withholding of information about genetically modified organisms from
In America, there are many things that are kept in the dark, which sometimes doesn’t come to the light, unless it is exposed. Michael Pollan and Jim Hightower both expose the truths that aren’t always too apparent in the eye of the beholder, which in this case, is Americans. They both unveil lies and tell truths, which in the end, is more than beneficial to the American society. In a letter to the future President of the United States, Michael Pollan acknowledges the troublesome in food in our society.
People were forced to consume contaminated food especially meat on a daily basis. This gave birth to many diseases such as food poisoning and liver failure. They did not have any other options because there were no laws prohibiting the sale of spoiled food. Soon enough, in 1906, Federal Food and Drug Act was passed. One of the key things this act did was embargoing the sale of any food or drug which has been adulterated or misbranded (4).
Despite the positive ethical implications of 3D printing in the food industry, there are several negative ethical implications that should be considered as well. Comparisons can be made with the controversies surrounding Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), in which the technology and supply of GMO seeds has over the years been patented and controlled by biotech conglomerates such as Monsanto (National Research Council, 2000). Similarly, the production of raw food materials utilised for 3D food printing, such as animal tissues and hydrocolloids, is a technologically intensive process. This can potentially be monopolised and controlled by private corporations if existing legal frameworks are excessively protective of intellectual property (IP) rights (Pollan, 2012). Ethical dilemmas exist because while supporters of stringent IP laws may argue that these protections promote corporate innovation and technological advancements (Spectar, 2002), this monopoly on the production technology could impede the global accessibility of these 3D-printed food technologies across geographical regions, income
However, people’s action to sue fast food companies seems hardly sensible, because their foods are not poisoned, spoilt, or molded. Although their foods are far from healthy and their advertising tactics are extremely cunning, fast food restaurants are not the only one to blame for today’s rocketing rates of obesity-related health problems. It is entirely a person’s decision whether or not he or she chooses to eat fast foods. It is largely known that fast foods are junks for the body, yet people still buy them wanting a quick fix for their rumbling stomach. People can always avoid fast foods and make healthier options if they want to, and suing the fast food restaurants will not make them lose any weight or fat they have in their body.
