The Origins Of Current U.s. Food Regulation

How a national food policy could save millions of American lives discusses the lack of a national food policy in America and how the food industry affects people and the world. Examples of issues that a nation food policy could alleviate include Americans access to healthy food and reducing the carbon footprint from food production. The article also discusses how special interests flourish from issues related to the food industry while citizens and the environment suffer.

Regulations made to minimize the risk of illness through food are based on the government’s understanding of science. While food businesses consider both the quality and safety of food, the government focuses only on food safety.

Factory farms having locked doors only reinforces what some of us already suspect. That they are engaging in activities appalling to the public. Their secrecy is seemingly sustaining their business. Consumers’ ignorance of the meat production business only encourages inhumane animal husbandry. Foer says, “the power brokers of factory farming know that their business model depends on consumers not being able to see (or hear about) what they do.” (pg. 87) This is why we need to educate ourselves on this matter extensively and start actively demanding where our meat is coming from. Advocating for animal welfare is one way we can begin the process of changing or ultimately ending factory farming.

Industrial agriculture is currently the predominant food production system in the United States. It is distinguished by large-scale monoculture, abundant use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and meat production in CAFOs. CAFOs are ‘Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations’, otherwise known as factory farms, which aim to cram as many animals in one space to boost efficiency and profit at the expense of animal suffering and environmental hazards.

In recent years, pork production has become a big business in the United States. In the past, the raising of swine was handled by small farming operations. Today, however, pigs are raised in large factories, some of which have the capacity to hold more than 100,000 animals (Lynch 14). This has created problems in terms of handling large amounts of excremental waste. These problems recently became evident in the state of North Carolina. A few years ago, North Carolina became the primary location for large-scale hog-raising operations. In particular, large companies like Coharie Hog Farm and Murphy Family Farms began locating along the eastern side of Interstate 95. This area was found to be suitable for hog farming because it is a coastal plain "where the land is flat, the rivers wide and human habitation scattered" ("The Brown Lagoon" 24). The state of North Carolina was also favorable for large-scale swine operations because there was a lack of laws regulating that type of business. In order to ensure their ability to operate without being heavily regulated, the major swine companies in North Carolina donated huge amounts of money to the leading politicians in the state. Thus, the major swine farmers were able to gain a sense of immunity as a result of their powerful political connections. At the same time, the state's leading politicians tended to encourage such operations because they were providing employment and thus improving the overall economic welfare of

Even though self-regulation hasn’t been successful so far, with incentives that could change. Businesses are run by their owners not the government, and regulations shouldn’t be imposed on them, but current voluntary guidelines could be supplemented by tax incentives, which would motivate the food industries to implement them. They would be persuaded to make better adjustments to their product for the purpose of selling and advertising healthier food items. Bittman believes that “grass roots movements need to make agencies aware that food industry regulations for marketing are needed”, however this is not feasible (1). These are big corporations, their money and comradery will influence the agencies to ignore claims from the grass roots movements. The power of financial persuasion is the method the government should use to get the food industries to self-regulate in a health conscious way. Getting food industries to implement better marketing regulations would only solve a small portion of the problem, education would solve the large portion. It’s up to the parents to educate our kids about eating healthy with the help from the school. The most effective course of action for children or anyone having a healthy diet is being educated about it. The government should

Close your eyes and step into the world of an individual. You are born into a world where nights and days are never constant (attention getter). You are fed three to five times a day, but no one is there to nurture you. Not even the numerous others crammed into your living space. You grow frantic, scared, and sickly. Now open your eyes, to reality. What I have just described is one of America’s worst ghettos. You know this individual who is trapped in this environment. He is your breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is the meat you eat . Today’s farms not only abuse their animals they also produce harmful diseases and environmental hazards that affect each and every one of us, regardless of whether you consume animal products or not. The U.S. government should ban factory farms and require the meat industry to raise animals in their natural environments (preview of points and statement of purpose).

One may not agree with the government regulating our own food. The government wants healthier food choices, people to be more athletic, and they really want everyone to make better decisions. The government is only trying to get the population to be healthier. People may not agree with the government regulating our own food choices.

Summary: Because of food borne pathogens, 5,000 people die yearly and some 76 million are ill. Meat contamination has changed the nations confidence in the food safety system and questioned if the government should scale up regulations. Consumers advocates says the government need to increase inspections of both domestics and imported products and sanction facilities that repeatedly fails. But officials say increased regulations may put plants out of business without increasing food supply. A last minute hitch, however has left fate of that bipartisan legislation uncertain, despite support form unusual alliance of industry and consumer advocates. Scientists can now genetically modify fruits and vegetables as well as livestock and other food

The role the federal government plays in the food regulation and safety is controversial. Some believe that it’s against their constitutional right for the government to step in and have a say on the food they consume. On the other hand, some believe that it’s part of the government’s job to regulate the food industries and provide health regulations to protect the society. The country is divided based on when the government should intervene when it comes to many topics such as the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, Nutrition Content Claims, Meat Inspection, and Dietary Supplement Regulation.

The United States of America is a nation built upon immigrants from various parts of the world. The food in the United States resembles the history of the people that lived in certain areas. When you think of an American dish you would think of burgers and fires or fried chicken (US Food). Even though these are popular dishes to have in America it doesn’t resemble the multicultural people that live there. There are certain foods that you may consider to be American but there are also many dishes influenced by different cultures (US Food). An example of this is pasta or pizza. Many people would not consider this to be an American dish because the dish originated in Italy. Modifications to Italian dishes are commonly found in the United States

Food safety regulations worldwide don’t align perfectly from one country to another, and there are food safety-related issues that arise as a result. Governments don’t all legislate it the same way because scientific evidence for the validity of specific policies isn’t all there is to consider—culture, history and politics included. These same things in tandem with pervasive fear and protectionism factor into how regulations solve certain problems.

The United States has made a significant shift in swine production during the past two decades. The countryside used to be filled with small operations that raised hogs and crops. However, the industry has become much more concentrated among large operations. Single phase operations are much more prominent and replaced most of the farrow-to-finish operations. Between 1992 and 2004 the number of hog farms fell by more than 70%, yet the hog inventory remained stable as the average operation grew from 945 head in 1992 to 4,646 in 2004 (Key & McBride, 2007). Small family farmer operations could not compete with the commercial farms.

It is so easy to become complacent in our sheltered world and to turn the other cheek to the violence and misery that our every life decision can perpetrate, and that the majority of the country (mostly unknowingly) buys into. The fact is that if the horrors of the meat industry were common knowledge, the business would decrease, and drastically at that. So, to keep the knowledge from becoming widespread, meat and animal factory farms are content to work quietly and discreetly in the sparsely-populated back corners of the country where no one can see what is being done without making an active effort. The problem for them is, many people have been making an active effort- as the animal cruelty cause became more mainstream, the US saw a

The Food Industry and Self-Regulation: Standards to Promote Success and to Avoid Public Health Failures