Food Assignment
1. Dominion
After watching this film, it was surprising to how the workers were so aggressive and
showed no emotion towards these animals. Also, how bloody they got and how messy it was for
them while killing these animals. The results to how many animals were killed in the U.S for food
beats all other countries and the numbers were drastically large portions. All of these animals
were mated artificially, rather than natural mating. The way that these animals were processed
for mating, slaughtering, kept at captivity, etc. was extreme. The living environments were
horrific and the stress that built up on all these animals mad them rot and die overtime. Natural
conditions, cows can live up to 20 years and the cows showed in the film only lived 5 years.
Drugs, such as antibiotics were injected into cows to make them grow faster and produce more.
80 percent of beef sold come from these feedlots and these antibiotics haven’t been up to date,
so it can possibly cause harm to human bodies, and could give diseases. These animals aren’t
only killed for the food, but killed for their hide and for leather. Cow and sheep were mostly used
for food and clothing. The overall processing for these animals was very damaging to the
audience to see. Also, I didn’t know that there were farmed fish, such as trout, salmon, and
tuna. Fish are also gathered in the sea in large quantities through nets. By 2048, it is estimated
that the ocean will be voided of fish, and this is astonishing, considering that the ocean is so
much more bigger than land on earth. Rabbits, foxes, and minks and are also killed for their
furs. To eat and use animals is normal, however, the products that are sold in the stores, most
people don’t think about how it got there and where it came from.
2. Food Companies - Conflict of Interest
This article talks about how nutrition research typically shows only one side to make your
food seem as if it is amazing, rather than showing where it actually comes from and the
background of it. Many food companies pay researchers to conduct experiments and studies on
their products. In the article, the researchers argued how from one-sided reports you can learn
the most about all the benefits, and if they give positive information about these food products
then the food company will fund large amounts of money to the researchers without the viewers
knowing the backstory or context. This is a problem because as consumers, we would want to
know what is in our types of food and what we are eating and we would like to know both sides,
pros and cons. This can be very misleading, regarding our health. It is very important to know
what consumers of these foods are ingesting into their stomachs to prevent poteintal health
issues within the future. Cancer is a common issue that could possible be coming from these
food, however how are we supposed to know when we don’t know both sides of the story and
only the good benefits of the nutrition that is contained in these foods.
3. The ​Science of Addictive Junk Food
This article gives an adequate insight on how food companies control the taste of
“addictive foods” to hook their customers, despite how unhealthy their product really is. Most of
these companies goals are to use cheap ingredients and make it addictive so they sell more
and make more money. The article talks about a man named Howard Mokowitz and he is
famous for creating a “standard”, which is called the “bliss point”. The bliss point is used by
many food companies and they have a set standard on how much sugar to put into these food
to make it addictive. It has to be just right so it’s not too much or too little. The consequences of
this is that sugar can cause a lot of health issues, such as rotting teeth, diabetes, obesity, etc.
And most importantly, most people don’t really know this and what else they put into it. These
food companies implemented a lot of sodium into their ingredients and there was so much
sodium that it reaches your daily limits / diet on an average human. This is just to make it
addictive, because sodium evidently makes food taste much better, however isn't really healthy.
The other part of this article discusses and analyzes the facts and ingredients in a child’s
favorite lunch meal, Lunchables. Since lunchable a very compact and ready to lunch, it makes it
very convenient for the customers to just pack and go. However, the food in it may not be so
healthy for the children or adult who consume it. Lunchables did what a lot of food companies
did, making the ingredients cheaper. They put the cheapest meat and cheese in their meals,
while have a great taste that kids would enjoy so they can make a bigger profit. The usage of
sugar, salt, fat, and other ingredients impacts our health drastically. The author also talked
about how food companies try to get out into binge eating their products. These products
typically try to make their food dissolve in your mouth in order to make your brain think you
aren’t taking in too much food. This method companies use, is common and promotes obesity
and other health issues. This is a potential reason to why America is becoming obese due to the
convenience package food, addictiveness and how the food is eaten. These food companies
don’t care at all and if they did it would promote the competition to do the same thing they claim.
The last portion of the article discusses how international companies such as Coca Cola,
Lunchables, etc. try to target the poorest population because the poor parts of this country are
more vulnerable to being addicted because they want the enjoyment of a good taste as a stress
reliever. These marketing techniques that were analyzed in this article indicates how America’s
food products aren’t really good for the consumers and shows how the the great tastes and low
costs in these foods can lead to devastating health issues in the future.
4. Epigenetics - You are what your grandparents ate.
This ted talk talked about how scoring green food is more than just eating health, but it’s
about how well you take care of yourself. If you take care of yourself and stay away from the
junk food, you are more likely to activate the good genes for your children so they will be healthy
as well. Epigenetics is the primary topic in this ted talk an it is a term that describes how
genetics are impacted based on what you do and how that affects your lineage. The term to
wagt your grandparents eat is true and could have an impact on you and your future children.
The health of your grandparents had a relationship to their genes. Some people stay healthy by
the starting out genes and this carries with them. What you it is very important, regarding to your
overall health, genes and future. If you eat bad, your children are most likely to eat bad because
this is passed on in their culture and has an impact on the genes based on the decisions you
make. Epigenetics is a direct proportion to our daily interactions and what we eat and do, and
this determines our future. This can be scary for lots because it can have many negative effect
on them based on what they have ate, and the food that America is eating, society is not looking
too good for the future. Many people eat sugary and fattening food each day and this can be
very detrimental. This film talked about how they can analyze how a population will do after a
devastating famine and we can apply this to our food and future of America, how will we do?
5. Can we Eat Our Way Out of Climate Change?
The global agriculture makes up nearly 15 percent of global emissions. There are a lot of
gases that are produced to make this number increase and go up overtime. The gases mostly
consists of methane gas, which is produced from livestock pins. This can be a huge probleming
considering how methane can be released into the amptohere fast than other gases, such as
co2. However, methane is produced by particular livestock and according to the podcast they
discussed how any other gases that would be replaced with methane, in which the animals
produce would be much harder to remove from the earth’s atmosphere. The industrial meat and
dairy food supply is hurting the environment based on the amount of emissions they put out and
most people don’t know that. If we were to change our diets, we can make a big difference in
the amount of emissions we put out in the environment. This doesn’t mean don’t eat mean, for
some it can, however America and as a world we need to cut back on the amount of dairy
products we consume and how much is being produced. This change, there is lab grown meat,
and it is made to not harm the environment and harm the animals and used to make traditional
meat. Meat grown in labs use straight ingredients and this method of producing meat is far
better than killing all these animals and making the environment suffer along with the animals
and devastating effects within these farms. Lab meat would be great if it is two-sided and it
displays the pros and cons, meaning that it defines what is harmful and what is not harmful
within the lab meat. 15 percent is a small number only for now and it can increase drastically
overtime and if we were to find a solution to that now that would be great towards society's
future eating habits, health, etc.
6. Food Inc.
In the movie, “Food Inc” the the global industrial food chain is explored thoroughly. The food
chain in the united states is very cruel and unsafe. However it is not talked about nor really
shown, it is quite hidden. The chain is simple, it works by maximizing the profits, and cutting
expenses to the lowest possible points. However, there are monopolies that push farmers out
by bankrupting them or forcing them into contracts that build debt over time. The film talked
about the average chicken farmer is 500,000 dollars in debt and only make around 18,000 a
year. It is prolific to see these farmers in these situations and is quite unfair. The rich is picking
on the poor farmers to keep working since they are being held under a contract they can’t stop.
These companies are forcing these farmers to keep on producing for them so these food
companies can keep on making their profits. The meat is fueled by cheap and very unhealthy
products, however it is cheap meat for mass consumption. During the film, one farmer
mentioned how his chickens had 130 CFU (​colony-forming units, bacteria, fungi, etc.​)​ and the
store chickens had 3600 CFU. This is dangerous to our health considering the fact that must of
us buy eggs and chicken from the stores and these chicken contain CFU and would make you
want to eat whatever chickens he has instead. Considering the industrial food supply is
prolifically dominant, it is quite difficult to search for foods int he tore that don’t come from the
same industrial food suppliers. As consumers, we have no selection to what we can eat,
regarding to where this food is coming from. America only has up to 4 meat producing
companies and it is evident that most of it is in the fast food we eat and most of the local grocery
stores. It is evident that the food companies main goal is to hide this information so they can
keep on producing and selling and making large profits. Quite frankly, the companies don’t care
what is in their food, they care about the money moreover. And as long as the public continues
to not know, there is no stopping them. The meat industries have yielded so much power, you
really don’;t know what you’re buy and eating anymore and it is difficult to identify and know
about this unless you do research or take a class. The marketing system in the food instruy can
be complex because they can use so nay techniques to drive their customers in and to make
them believe their food is good and can use other methods to reel them back in from not buying
these products. Another topic brought up in the film is that is the owning of seeds. Farmers no
longer plant and and spread the seeds out in their fields like they once did. A supreme justice
who got paid by these seed producing companies ruled that farmers can no longer plant seeds
that had been patented. This created a monopoly and put a political hold on the government.
These food are doing this process in a similar, but they are doing this towards their livestock.
These farming monopolies hold and manipulate the farmer capabilities and abilities to what they
can actually produce to the community.
7. Livestock’s Long Shadow & the ​Q&A on the carcinogenicity of the consumption of red
meat and processed meat
Between the two articles, I found it ironic that the first one addressed an immense
amount of information to where our food is coming from and the second article, which is by the
World Health Organization does not tells us any information to where these meats come from
and how they are processed. This first article is a very good source in defining the issues in the
meat industry and give a good insight on the farming environment. This source covers the
global environmental issues many do not know about and the livestock living conditions, making
an input to where our food is coming from. Adequately addresses the production of these
products and the economy/ market impacts. This source would be great for someone who is
doing research on this topic and it would be great to spread out to others. However, the second
article just mostly tells you what to do with these meats, how they can be at risk if you don't
refrigerate, and tells you how to cook them. This first article should be the one the World Health
Organization because it provides great insight to what we are eating how how everything is
processed and give the vocabulary and definitions for each portion of the article and it is sully
analyzed to how meats, dary, eggs, which are the foods we buy at the store are fully processed
and handled so that we aware that we may be eating are way out of climate change and the fact
that we can get sick in the long-run and develop many types of diseases from eating these
foods. A possible reason why the World Health Organization did not mention where these meats
come from could be that they don’t want to get in the way of how people eat their food because
a lot of it comes in their culture. They are more here to be neutral and inform others how to
properly maintain the food so no other further illness and diseases will spread from it if the food
is not handled well. It is not the World Health Organization's job to tell the people this, it is out
job to figure out how to tell others about this and what we can do to stop and cut back the
amount of meat we eat. A lot of people are undereducated and this article would help those who
are under-educated drastically.
8. Advanced food segment of the carbon footprint calculator test results:
9. Conclusion
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The effects of livestock agriculture were not mentioned in the Paris Climate Agreement
because of the Global attitude towards animal agriculture having ties. One culture can
practice animal agriculture and another culture can view it as an unethical process, while
most countries depend on animal agriculture. Since the market is so complex, the Paris
Climate Agreement possibly did not want to intervene with other countries culture.
Another reason it was not mentioned in the agreement was because of how the meat
lobbies have power, especially with those who depend on livestock agriculture, which
influences the power that they have over them. It also plays a major part in their
economies. It is quite difficult to ask a country to deny the main economy and so many
other poor countries would reject it.
Few of us are willing to change of out consumptions of meat and dairy because it is
apart of how most fo grew up and our culture. Some are willing to change for their own
good and their kids, since it impact the way your children will come out and your overall
health. Also the fact that so many of these food companies are strongly implemented
into the market and the systems and processes with the farms, it is very difficult to make
a change for everyone.
We have reached an industrial food supply for many reasons. The population of the
United States has gone up drastically and more and more people are consuming fast
foods. Along with this, people aren’t willing to leave their culture of eating meat. The way
all of us consumed food and as fast food chains got larger and the suppliers needed to
get a bigger supply to satisfy the demand. Although fast food is exceptionally cheap, it
has made a direct impact on the necessity for low cost and mass production of meat.
This pressure has accumulated overtime and has developed the industrial food supply,
cheap meat is supplied by only a few major companies.
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There are many broader consequences to the industrial food chain. There are health
and economic consequence such as, unhealthy meat and diseases that come from the
unhealthy environment from the livestock pins. And these are products that a lto of
Americans are consuming on the daily average. This also has an economic impact
because when people get sick from cheap food they will pay more money in the wrong
wrong for having health issues from this cheap food later on. It’s cheap now, but since it
has a direct impact on most individuals’ health, it won't be cheap down the road.
If our food supply were to be more transparent people would see the horrifying
environment these animals are kept at. The industrial food supply system should be
looked into more and should have more awareness so people can see how insane it is
of how these animals are treated and the effects of their health. More people would be
willing to change their eating cultures, or at least cut down drastically on the
consumption of cheap meats, eggs and dairy.
There are multiple causes to “The Viel” from Food Inc such as, our trust in the farmer’s
branding of the owned meat, the brutal production techniques of how our meat is
produced to us, and most view that quantity is better than quality of the meats. There are
also many consequences to this, one is that the consumer knowledge about how their
food is limited and how it is being produced to them. Meat producers can do whatever
they want to make money, and most people don’t think about the consequences, they
are more focused on the meat production and money. Most people don’t know that there
is a climate change issue from this as well and the general public cannot see it because
there is a big wall blocking them from seeing the two sides.
This matters a whole ton because most people care about their health and their
children's future and the world. Most people should be allowed to know what they are
ingesting, especially if most of it is on a daily basis. And we are lucky that we live on
earth and we don’t want climate change to interfere with the earth's function. Most of us
go to the grocery store to buy this and if people don’t know what they are buying or even
think about it, this issue may never get solved.
List of everything I eat for a week:
1. Sausage
2. Bacon
3. Chicken
4. Pork Chops
5. Ribs
6. Tri-tip
7. Milk & cereal (honey bunches of oats)
8. Toast
9. Eggs
10. Oranges
11. Spaghettis
12. Corn and zucchini
13. Carrots, green beans
14. Broccoli
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15. Lettuce (salads)
16. Granola bars
17. Burgers from fast food
18. Tacos
19. Fries / potatoes
20. Pork jerky
21. Salami
22. Ritz crackers
After evaluating what i eat for a week, along with my own eating habits, I came to the
realization that when I eat healthier foods in my breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I see the
major difference in what I usually eat. The carbon footprint calculate justifies that. I eat
86 percent (worse) more than the average human, regarding meats dairy, eggs, and the
over calorie intake. I don't think I eat as I should be cause I think that all of my meals are
unhealthy, until i decide to eat a bit healthier. I hope to change the amount of dairy,
meats and eggs my family eat everyday and I want to inform them about this. It would be
a good idea just to cut back a bit for the world and our health. I want to limit the
frequency of the emats i eat each week, and the total protein. Ot change I would
substitute more healthier options such as salads, noodle soups and soups in general, I
can eat black bean burgers, etc.
· ​My proposed idea for solutions is to cut out the amount of protein I consume,
considering the fact that we get them all from the grocery store and who know were thats
coming from. Since eating meat is in my family's culture, they may not change, but I will
and that's what matters because us young people are the future. Every difference we
can make as a society will make a big difference down the road. I don’t want to be
wanting to pay for health bills when I’m older I want to take care of myself and ·live long
and make sure I am eating the right foods to do so.