Argumentative Essay: The American Food Industry

American society has grown so accustomed to receiving their food right away and in large quantities. Only in the past few decades has factory farming come into existence that has made consuming food a non guilt-free action. What originally was a hamburger with slaughtered cow meat is now slaughtered cow meat that’s filled with harmful chemicals. Not only that, the corn that that cow was fed with is also filled with chemicals to make them grow at a faster rate to get that hamburger on a dinner plate as quickly as possible. Bryan Walsh, a staff writer for Time Magazine specializing in environmental issues discusses in his article “America’s Food Crisis” how our food is not only bad for us but dangerous as well. The word dangerous

Have you ever been in a rush, low on cash, and looking for something to eat so you didn’t really have a choice but to grab a burger with fries at your local fast food place? Have you ever paused or stopped to think about where the burger really came from, or the process that went in to be made? The Food Inc documentary investigates and exposes the American industrial production of meat, grains, and vegetables. Robert Kenner the producer of the film makes allegations in this film and he explores how food industries are deliberately hiding how and where it is our food is coming from. He emphasizes that we should find out where our food comes from and why is it that the food industry does not want us to know. Food Inc. does not only uses compelling images, such as hundreds of baby chickens being raised in spaces where they do not see an inch of sunlight, it also includes the speeches and stories of farmers, families, government officials, and victims of the food industry. The four current problems facing today’s food industry are the reformed usage of the false advertisement within the labeling of products , mistreatment of farmed animals, and the harmful chemical in our meats. The documentary Food Inc uses very persuasive tactics that demonstrates strong elements of pathos, ethos, and logos make an effective appeal, while uncovering the dark side of the food industry.

Fresh produce is often costly to grow, causing the price to be higher than that of the fat-filled fast food products. Unlike fresh fruits and vegetables, fast food items like fries, burgers, and chicken nuggets are almost always mass produced in unsanitary factories with cheap labor. The cattle that are slaughtered at these places are usually stuffed with hormones that artificially increase growth, leanness of the meat, and feeding efficiency. These chemicals are unhealthy when humans eat them, but they lower the price of the meat. Lower class Americans are persuaded to eat unhealthy food. As a result, their health plummets and they die

One simple fact, Americans are fat. Why? Uncle Sam has over 500,000 fast food joints up his sleeve. Americans don’t know or don’t care about the nutritional value of these diabetic packed meals. The land of the plenty has a horrible food industry, it is ruled by McDonald’s, Sonic, Taco Bell, Burger King and more. What caused these greasy, greedy corporations to have the power to manipulate the minds of billions of Americans? It leads back to history and culture.

Innocent animals are locked in cages until they die. All over the United States, they are locked into cages all by themselves. In nature, they are around other animals of their species so when they are locked up like this. It causes them to lose their minds. Some animals go crazy and start acting very odd because they have no contact with other animals. When this happens, the scientists are forced to use horrible tools on them to get them out of the cages to grab them. These animals are dragged into these cages after being injected with nasty things. Some

Even on packaging, many labels will say that it is organically made, or the meat was grown properly, but these labels only certify very minimal humane actions (Ethics). Many certifications that state a product is grown organically are only slightly better than nonorganic farms, which can be seen in chicken farms. Some organic chicken farms only have a slightly greater amount of space compared to inorganic farms, and most farms still de-beak the chickens at a young age (Ethics). The public is oblivious to the way the United States’ grows its food because of the way it is advertised. Farms will never show what occurs inside their structures because it would disgust and ruin the images of food to consumers (Food Inc.). It is very unfortunate when people state that the food industry should treat animals better even though they are ignorant to how most of America’s food is produced. By ignorantly eating the foods produced by most industries, people are being hypocritical to their beliefs and slowly degrading their consciousness towards animals. Humans unknowingly support animal cruelty and unfair labor through their food choices, but this is common in America’s culture.

As everyone knows, our food industry and even our government are there to keep the profits high not to teach us nourishments. But the question is, do half or the vast majority of us even know where our food is coming from? Are we aware of how it is being made? And what goes on in the food processing factories? The way it is being produced, handled, altered and later sold? And somewhat everything arising from our curiosity. These questions are what the majority of us are eager to get answered. This is a radical and surprising change to our food system. The food industry “used" to be more devoted with our health by implementing more safety inspections but, it is getting more and more negligible. The way big food industry companies improve it gives us the opposite impact. It worsen our society. It worsens us. Apart from our curiosity, we are now living in a phantasm/deceptive reality. People are so fed up with the food industry and its cheap cost, that they start forgetting about their own health.

All of the factory farms need to be stopped and taken down. We need more family farms, family farms are the safest healthiest places food comes from. Factory farms have air pollution, water pollution, and mono cultures. Also in factory farms when it comes to the animals they give them all these antibiotics, hormones, and pesticides. Family farms do not do anything to drug the animals. Family farms take real good care of all their animals while factory farms don't care about their animals one little bit. So if family farms care more about their animals than they care about the people's health also. If the factory farms don't care about their animals then they don't care about the people's health. Keeping the animals healthy and safe means the people will be healthy and safe and will not have to worry about themselves getting sick or overweight. In Wendell Berry’s article “The Pleasures of Eating” he said “The dreamer in this dream home will perforce know nothing about the kind of quality of this food, or where it came from, or how it was produced and prepared, or what ingredients, additives, and residues it contains” Usually when people buy meats at grocery stores, they buy meat without knowing where it was made, how it was made, and how many chemicals it has. Also known as pig in a poke. The people that do this buy the meats without knowing the harmful things it can do with the human body,

Grocery stores are full in America twenty- four hours every day, and also in gas stations, and airports. While you’re waiting for the next register, there’s one side showing skinny models with beautiful skin and in the other side, there’s delicious chocolate, some with peanut butter some with caramel. Difficult to resist, you end up buying a small chocolate bar, thinking its small but in reality it’s adding to the calories you have already eaten, and then your battle of urge to want another one. Including more processed and packaged foods, especially snacks. These foods are aimed for the consumer’s convenience, they are available in microwaveable containers and single serving sizes. They are quick and easy to cook, some even say “just add water”.

Health professionals have raised concerns in recent times, about the lack of nutritional information in the community. Could this be one reason for the plethora of food shows now seen on television? How much of what we see on the small screen, can be believed? Are we being manipulated in our choice of foods and being educated in nutrition, without really being aware of it? In 2011, an Australian pioneer in celebrity cooking, Margaret Fulton, slammed contestants and judges alike, in the series, "My Kitchen Rules" and "Master-Chef" as not knowing even the basic things like "making pastry" and "doing everything wrong."

Food is made somewhere it can be produced and sold. Americans want their food as fast as they can with little payment. It is the Industry's job to work with the customers and make it easier for them by selling the products cheaper. They make the food that intrigues the people. Whatever the customers want, they will receive because money is all corporations want. It is a good Idea to give what people want but is it okay to manipulate the for the money? Many customers choose to pay something cheaper and tastier with the knowledge of it being unhealthy. The industries only care about what they are receiving than the people who are going to eat it, leading to obesity.

Many of the animals used are killed just to set a death rate of how long will it take for the animal to die. The ones that survive they force chemicals into them, put things on there skin and many other torturing things. Half of the things that works on the animals don’t work on

While many of our experiences with food in foreign lands were very positive experiences - such as, Australian meat pies, sticky toffee pudding in Scotland, dulce de leche in Brazil, and even rice & beans (or beans & rice) with every meal in Costa Rica (yes, even breakfast) - our meals in Bangladesh were definitely a challenging experience for us. Like many “Third World” countries, Bangladesh is one where you are told not to drink the water and don’t eat raw fruits or vegetables. Also, being a Moslem nation, alcoholic beverages - such as the cold beer we enjoyed every evening in Kenya - are not available.

Not only are Americans eating unhealthy food, they are also eating large portion sizes. The required portion size is to eat the same amount of food as the size of your hand in a fist. Scientists say this because people’s stomach and hand are about the same size. Although this is suggested, there are not many Americans who actually eat that little. Most people pile onto

There is a major debate going on in today’s American society. Americans have access to fatty foods at all times of the day and at a low and or affordable cost. People fail to realize that there is a major concern with the amount of sugar, salt, and fat rich foods that are consumed on a daily basis. Now, one might ask, why are fast foods so addicting? What is in these hyperpalatable foods that we just can’t seem to refuse to pass on? Hyperpalatable foods are rich in sugar, sodium, fats, and overall good looking and tasting foods. Why should we or anyone care? It is important to know that because of these properties in these kinds of foods, one can have psychological and medical health implications. Hyperpalatable foods can be as