The FDA

The Food and Drug Administration is in charge of making sure our food is safe and of good quality for us to eat. It seems to me, they might be slacking a bit. "The FDA list approximately 2,800 international food additives and about 3,000 chemicals that are deliberately added to our food supply" (Blatt). These are unnecessary ingredients in our diet. Most of which have unknown long-term side effects. Yet the FDA continues to allow our food to be contaminated with these ingredients.

One might argue that since the ingredients are listed; it is the responsibility of the individual to be aware of what they are consuming. I am all for this argument since by law, all food products have to be labeled, right? Wrong again. "You could, in theory, select from a trattoria menu a meal of roast aubergine [eggplant] followed by polenta and tomato sauce, and then salmon served with fried potatoes, followed by a fruit salad-   every item, including the oil, pepper and horseradish sauce, having been genetically engineered. and none of it would be labeled" (Ticciati). Do not be fooled into thinking the FDA does not have loopholes, every organization does. I would suggest that one does their own research, reads their own labels, and makes an educated decision for themselves. The FDA means well, but at the end of the day it is just a job.

Sources:
Blatt, Harvey. America's Food: What You Don't Know About What You Eat. Cambridge: Mass MIT Press, 2008. Print.

Ticciati, Laura. Genetically Engineered Foods: Are They Safe? You Decide. New Canaan: NTC Contemporary, 1998. Print.

Picture Source:
www.30pov.com/2010/19/the-hunted-carrot/

Don't Forget The Vegetables

Most of us would assume that eating vegetables equals being healthy, right? Wrong! Since crop growers started genetically modifying our produce, a lengthy list of health concerns have been under question.

"The range of what GMOs might do to us is breathtaking. "Several animal studies," according to the AAEM, reveal a long list of disorders, including: infertility, immune dysregulation, accelerated aging, dysregulation of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis, [faulty] insulin regulation, cell signaling, and protein formation, and changes in the liver, kidney, sleep, and gastrointestinal system" (Smith). This is not a short list of concerns and these are very serious health risks. The worse part is that genetically modified foods are not limited to just the produce isle. The wheat that makes our bread has been altered. The corn that makes the corn syrup we sweeten our sodas with has been altered. It seems as if the majority of most foods contain an ingredient, if not more, that has been genetically modified.

If that isn't bad enough, to top it off, our children are the ones paying the ultimate price. "The Environmental Working Group (EWG) ran a report and it showed, "more than one million children a day age 5 and under ingest unsafe amounts of organophosphate (OP) insecticides," which have the potential to cause long-term damage to the brain and nervous system (of children)" (Koch).

Sources:
Koch, Kathy. "Food Safety Battle: Organic Vs. Biotech." CQ Researcher 2 Sept. 1998. 761-84.

Smith, Jeffery. "The Fight Against GMOs." Share Guide Mar/Apr 2011: 10-33.

Picture Source:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/gmo-bans-laws-labels-around-the-world.php

Old Macdonald Had A Farm

Factory farming is a method of farming in which large amounts of livestock are being raised in small confinements. Most people are roughly familiar with many of the problems that emerge from these factory farms.

One of the biggest problems associated with factory farming, especially with swine farms, are the diseases. "Pig flu viruses can be a big problem for the general population. That is because pigs are a genetic crucible for new viruses.. The fear is these new hybrids will prove capable of infecting people readily, while being sufficiently foreign to cause serious illness once they do" (Branswell). Most of us can remember the H1N1 swine flu virus that surfaced in 2009. This was considered a mild outbreak. One could only imagine the severity of an outbreak like the 1918 flu pandemic, which claimed well over fifty million lives.


"Factory farm production is intensifying worldwide, and rates of new infectious disease are rising. Of particular concern is the rapid rise on antibiotic resistant microbes, and inevitable consequence of the widespread use of antibiotics as feed additive in industrial livestock operations" (Sayre). By adding antibiotics to the feed we are helping these new hybrid viruses become stronger. When an outbreak amongst humans does happen, the viruses are extremely difficult to treat since they have already built an immunity against our antibiotics.The ways in which we are raising our food could literally kill us.


Sources:
Branswell, Helen. "Flu Factories." Scientific American Jan. 2011: 46-51.


Sayre, Laura. "The Hidden Link Between Factory Farms and Human Illness." Mother Earth News Feb/March 2009: 76-83.


Picture Source:
http://www.allskull.com/fcked-up-facts/factory-farming-youre-in-denia/

"It's people!"

Where does our food come from? How safe is it really? 


Most people never asks themselves questions like these. Years ago, after watching the film Soylent Green, was the first time I asked myself these questions. In the film Soylent Green, the government rations food upon a poverty stricken world. We find out at the ending this rationed food is actually people. 


This inspired me to do my own research on where exactly our food comes from and what it goes through to get here. There are many dangers and much controversy associated with mass food production. It is a scary thing to learn about the uncleanliness, disease, and animal abuse that runs rampant in the majority of factory farms. It is not just the meat we have to worry about, in fact, there is a rapidly growing concern of genetically modified produce that has been hybrid to withstand our strongest insecticides. 


I believe it would be beneficial to us all to have these answers at the convenience of our fingertips. I have decided to create this blog over mass food production. I am looking forward to learning more with you about the truth of the food we eat, where it comes from, and how "safe" it really is!