Food Better Than It Was Back In The 1900s

Is food safer today than it was back in the 1900s when The Jungle was written? The food industry today has improved and is cleaner. Although the way foods is made today is still unsafe as it was in the 1900s. Now that there is an increase in the use of chemicals, genetically modified foods, and the way food is processed. Today the food industry uses lots of chemicals to produce the foods that we eat. Back then these industries didn’t have as much of the chemicals that we have nowadays. In the past all the fruits and vegetables were all organic, because farms didn’t use pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Therefore, the food fresher than it is now. Farms now use chemical pesticides to repel against insects and animals that damage the crops.

By adding more pesticides to the crops, we are increasing the pollution in the air. Not only do the chemical pesticides affect the environment, it also has an effect on the soil and crops. When farmers put the pesticides on the crops the fruits and vegetables start to lose it’s nutritional value. Also, pesticides have an affect on people’s health. People are at risk of having, “cancer, nervous system diseases and reproductive problems” (“Why Organic: Harmful Effects of Chemical Pesticides”) when they are exposed to the pesticides. Pesticides are just one of the chemicals that is being put into foods today. Another chemical that is very popular is artificial flavoring. The majority of the foods that we eat have artificial flavoring added to them. Even in the 1900s foods had artificial flavoring, “many flavor companies began as importers of European essential oils and other flavoring substances” (“FEMA” History). This was how the United States got the essential oils and flavoring substances in order to create an artificial

Besides the use of pesticides, and artificial flavoring there is genetically modified foods (GMOs). Foods that are genetically modified is manipulated by engineers, and is considered to be unsafe. Foods that have been genetically modified is usually canned foods, frozen foods, baby formula, cereal, cooking oils, meat, milk, soft drinks, etc. Pretty much most of the foods on the market are genetically modified. Just like the flavoring companies being secretive, products that are GMOs aren’t labeled on the product. Even in the 1900s, scientists have been manipulating plants, and also before the 1900s during prehistoric times people manipulated foods as well. This has been going on for centuries, but today with the technology that we have, foods is more genetically modified than before. In the article History of Genetic Engineering it states that: “Some naturalists and farmers begin to recognize "hybrids," plants produced through natural breeding between related varieties of plants.” They used natural ways to breed between a variety of plants. Now engineers can modify foods to last longer, increase in size, etc. That’s how some foods have a longer shelf life