Sunday, February 9, 2014

Are you telling the truth

   Food consumption occurs nearly everyday, ever hour, minute and second. These types of foods that we consume contain a great amount of health issues. Food born illnesses in the US is the great cause of many hospitalizations leading to deaths. Most common bacteria found in food like E-coli, are causing a great amount of conflicts amongst death in the American people.  That is why a new law was created to protect these types of food that we eat. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) allows many of our foods to be protected against these types of bacteria.
When it comes to bacteria, people would normally think of it as catching a cold. Who would know that many of the deadliest bacteria grow in the foods many of the farmers harvest. E-coli is a bacterium that is mainly found in the guts of animals. Mostly found in contaminated waters. In recent years E-coli has been found in many of our vegetables like spinach, carrots, and lettuce. The center for diseases has confirm that there had also been salmonella tracking’s in many of our harvest vegetables as well as fast food restaurants.
   Fast food restaurants have evolved over the years as is has become the leading market to many individuals. The foods that are being sold here have nearly over 1000 calories and many other nutritional facts that are not considered nutritional. These foods are bringing many health issues like heart diseases, diabetes, obesities, and even arthritis. According to news reported these fast food industries should not have the fault for many of these illnesses but the government as well. The government should be more aware of these consequences and take a step towards making these industries sell healthier food. What these industries are doing is advertising obesity and making kids their center of attention.
Americans should think about where our food comes from and why it affects us in ways that can lead us to death. Many of the foods we eat contain a nutritional fact that talks about the ingredients these foods have. Like fast food industries there are farming industries where most of our food comes from. Cows, chickens, pigs and other animals are feed and born in these farms. These farms are different than regular farms. Animals are injected with many engineered hormones and other types of injections to keep them healthy and “organic”. Not much is know from these farms because other wise their market would not sell and people will not bother to eat it. The animals live in a stretched environment with nearly over a hundred of other of their types. They are not fed natural grass but other types of foods like corn, grain, and some antibiotics. Many of these farms, consider the ones that produce egg products seem to be the most conflicting. These hens are raised in cages with no free will, injected almost everyday to allow egg production to occur faster and their beaks are cut to decrease the chances of pecking each other. With given information, researchers believe that there is many consequences as to why are foods contain many of the bacteria’s that Americans consume. These animal’s environments are filled with many filthy feces that most of the times are not picked up due to the fact of so many animals in the industrial farms. Certified organic labels and all natural labels have causes contradictory arguments on weather or not these products are actually organic and natural. If these products are not considered to be organic, many question as to why the government still allows these types of misuses in order to sell their products.
Food INC is a video that allows many viewers to look deep in these types of industries and the way they treat our food. According to the film in the 70s there were about a thousand slaughterhouses selling meat for production and now there are about 13 still selling the meats that are bought in the store (Food INC). Shocking to know that the USDA doesn’t have as much power as these industries. USDA was taken to court by the meat association and caused the USDA to have less power in order for them to not shut any types of food that were considered toxic.
By 2011 Obama signed a law that allow many changes in our food consumption. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), allows prevention amongst our foods and as well as food that gets imported to the US. This law has three main goals to accomplish: improve food safety, detect and respond to any issue regarding food safety, and improve the safety of imported food. It will take time for this law to be fully active, and allowing the improvement of our safety and the food we eat.
The more detailed preventions of the FSMA are based on food facilitator to sign specific papers every two years, which includes the industrial farm and warehouses. The FDA has the authority to suspend any facility that has a probability of containing hazardous and deadliest contents to the food. While these facilities require signing papers they also must come up with a sort of analysis that explains the possible harm the food can cause and also ensure that the food is not mislabeled. Fruit and vegetables have a regulation that also allows the FDA to know if these produce carry any food born illnesses like salmonella and E coli. Now this allows the FDA and USDA to have a product tracing and tracking system. In order to make this effective, the FDA must cooperate with the government to create an overview of the food that have caused many Americans to become sick. Imported food takes a similar step as these industries companies. According to the US Department of Agriculture about 80% fish and 60% fruit and vegetables come from different countries (USDA).  Imported food goes through a verification program that allows the food to be verified and meet the food safety requirements of the US. Inspections in these industries also allows the FDA to be more aware of what goes on in their factories and if they are doing what is right for them to still be active. Inspection occurs every three years depending if the facility is considered high risk or low risk of contamination. FSMA is doing its best to keep food safe from harmful substances from selling in the markets.

Through the process of our food from new law regulations of our safety foods, Americans can conclude that there has been a big change in how our food is processed. There is not much evidence of these new changes, as our food still happens to be contaminated form many food born illnesses and deaths are still occurring from food illnesses. E coli, considered the number one bacteria in food is spreading to foods likes our fruits and vegetables and are causing a great amount of conflict towards society. The government has not taken action in the right way that make our food safe as there is still toxic chemicals found and our foods. Fast food restaurants continue to become a large industry filling their pockets with many fortunes and leaving society with poor health. Many of our meats still come from slaughterhouses and factory farms that treat many of the animals inhumane. Our food is still not considered organic even if the labels say so. Food has still not reach to the point were the secrets are uncovered. As a society we must dig deeper and uncover all the hidden lies that hide behind the food that take a big part in our lives.
"word count:1272"

1 comment:

  1. Hi Astrid,

    Remember that your articles have to be online scholarly sources -- Food Inc. is a great documentary but you'll need to find a source that talks about the film as a way of going around the online requirement.

    Also, a lit review should show how the sources are seemingly responding/talking to one another; you list a lot of great ideas here, but can you make the sources (titles, authors) more explicit, as well as generate transitions between the paragraphs?

    As we get closer to the essay, think about "solutions" that you can pose to your audience and/or what you want your readers to get out if.

    I forward to reading the finished product!

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