More people can be fed at a lower cost when using factory farming, but it may not be worth the harm it causes the animals, our environment, and possibly our food. Factory farming started to be able to feed our growing population in a more cost effective way. It was great to be able to feed the growing population of the world in a quicker way than what was happening before. Along the way the treatment of the animals has gone down as well as the quality of the food. “Researchers concluded that the current animal food industry is quite simply unacceptable due to its effects on humans, the environment, and animals raised for food.
Many Americans have already begun to realize our industrial food system is unsustainable. The increase of farmers’ markets and organic foods are just a few examples of the steps we have taken towards change. The system we have created has made a hierarchy, with corporations at the top and non-industrialized countries at the bottom. Instead, our food system should become more like a web. By creating more small scale farms, external costs, such as health care and environment impacts, will decrease.
The Effects of Factory Farming on Human Life Aline M. Hayes DeVry University The Effects of Factory Farming on Human Life A lot of consumers who purchase food items from the supermarket to feed themselves or their families are not concerned with how the products they purchase will affect them or their loved ones. Some people are completely unaware of how the meats they consume are processed and manufactured. Some individuals who purchase a fresh hot meal from a fast food restaurant or cook a nice home cooked meal don’t have an inkling about where they foods they consume come from. A lot of individuals are under the impression that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) operates in the best interest of the consumer. Over the years, the decline of family farms and increase of factory farming has caused harmful effects on human life.
This is indeed a great accomplishment for our country; however what is the secret behind these companies success? The answer is simple; Make and sell cheap food products and end up getting enormous income! When companies use this method, the food that they are selling is not of best quality and is always unhealthy for the consumers. Michael Pollan a food expert says, “Cows are not designed by evolution to eat corn. They’re designed by evolution to eat grass.
The documentary Food Inc. touches on these topics and shows how little consumers know about what they eat and where it derives from. The documentary Food Inc. shows how most people are under the fallacious belief that their foods are grown on appealing farms often depicted on the packaging of the product themselves. In reality only a few of these farms are present and large factory farms have replaced most of them (Food Inc.). Food Inc. displays how viciously animals are being treated from their living conditions and at slaughterhouses. The documentary also shows how animals are given antibiotics to make them grow much more rapidly.
In addition, promoters of factory farming say that the factory farming helps the economy of a country, creates more jobs, and lower borne illness. In the other hand, there are some negatives of factory farming. Some factories are being cruel to the animals, causing massive pollutions, chemicals like pesticides, destroying communities, causing antibiotic resistance germs, and overcrowded animals in a factory. For these reasons Factory farming is a highly controversial topic between animal rights advocates, environmentalists, farmers and corporations. Considering all these arguments, I think the factory farming should be allowed to produce meats and eggs.
There is no guarantee that raw ground beef or sprouts will be free of certain harmful bacteria. These foods provide a favorable environment for bacterial growth, whereas, the production process does not include a step to reduce these bacteria, such as cooking or pasteurization. For these foods, irradiation provides a bacteria-killing step. However, one association disagrees that the issue and claims that irradiation only covers up problems that the meat and poultry industry should solve, increasing the fecal contamination that results from speeded up slaughter and decreased federal inspection. Per Organic Consumers Association, Irradiation is a ‘magic bullet’ that will enable the company to say that the product was ‘clean’ when it left the packing plant.
Imposing higher taxes on junk food will not encourage healthy eating. Taxes don’t stop people from buying things that satisfy them. By restricting dietary choices Americans will not suddenly know the difference between junk food and health food. The government cannot appropriately regulate and restrict improper consumption in people’s homes; they need to keep their hands out of Americans pockets and start fighting obesity through educating adults and their children on proper nutritional routines. Imposing a junk food tax draws attention to one of the most imperative questions which is how to define foods as unhealthy.
The broken food system is an issue derived from the access to food; it is an uncanny crisis pertinent to 870million people (Oxfam 2012). Society’s endeavour to alleviate this crisis leads to an array of issues such as poverty, nutrition and environmental degradation. The existence of the broken food system is inextricably linked to a “wicked problem”, a cycle of insoluble problems that continually exists. The characteristic of a wicked problem has no absolute solution (Rittel & Webber 1973). A broken food system arises from the inability to purchase food due to poverty, "There is food on the shelves, but people are priced out of the market" (Lean 2008, p. 1).
Submitted by: John Kenneth J. Fernandez Submitted to: Maam Lua Burias Thesis Statement: Although junk food is convenient, inexpensive, and is basically a cultural phenomenon, we as a society need to stop eating junk food because it has increased health problems, has taken away from family core values, destroys the environment, and has created a food economy dominated by giant corporations. I. Introduction What is Junk Food? The term “junk food” is used to describe food which is low in nutritional value, with a comparatively high caloric value. Many people try to avoid or limit junk food in their diets, out of concerns that such food is not healthy, despite the fact that numerous food manufacturers produce a range of products which could be considered junk food.