The Food at the Supermarket

This is the writing assignment I sent off this morning for class today. It is an informal way to explore the topic we are writing for our nine to tweleve page writing assignments. I've done well on the last two, but there is so much to cover with this topic that I had a hard time not jumping around too much! I am excited for our research papers.

The American public has been, ever so carefully, led to believe that thousands of choices are available to them at the grocery. There are more than forty-seven thousand items in any given supermarket, but very few companies (nine in total) provide the goods on those shelves. Those companies are: Coca-Cola, Pepsico, General Mills, Kellog's, Mars, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, Nestle, and Kraft. Through careful crafting of lies, false research, and general misleading the public has been fooled into believing that these food stuffs are healthy.

Almost every package includes a misleading label. Those foods labeled "Natural" or "All Natural" can still contain injected sodium or high fructose corn syrup, "Multigrain" does not mean whole grain, "free-range" animals are often encouraged to stay indoors, "light" sometimes just refers to flavor, "organic" is a popular word, and the USDA does have strict guidelines as to what can and cannot be labeled "organic". However, these restrictions only apply to the United States of America. Any products from out of country are certified by a different company, which in turn tells the USDA that yes, the food is indeed organic. Once the food receives the third-party's acceptance the USDA allows its label to be used.

On March 16th, 2009 law was passed into effect which mandated that food products be labeled with country of origin, to better enable consumers to choose from which country they wanted their food grown and manufactured. Of course, when made outside of the United States, the print type chosen is very small and located in generally difficult-to-read areas like the crimp of the bag. When a product is made in America, the labels and exclamations couldn't be louder or more obvious. Even companies that design a product in America, but have it manufactured out of country, proudly display the American flag.

Another disturbing trend is the incidence of disease among Americans due to their food. Salmonella, E-Coli, norovirus, ands stomach upsets are fairly common. There is one, however generally not connected with food, but is the most serious and life threatening one: cancer.

Everyone wants to discover the cure for cancer; it's nearly impossible to find one person unaffected by, or related to someone who has/had cancer. Scientists and millions upon millions of dollars per year are poured into research, but no one knows why cancer infects us so viciously. There are some identified culprits but the incidence of cancer is still rising. When people are diagnosed with cancer, now they are a martyr, fighting against an unseen enemy with an army of the afflicted. Does no one think that the increase in chemical in the food we consume could possibly have anything to do with cancer? Potassium bromate, BHT and BHA, artificial colors, acesulfame-potassium, carrageenan, nitrates and nitrites, olestra, propyl gallates, and saccharin are all known carcinogens, but the FDA allows them in small quantities in (especially prepared, packaged) food.

Now genetically-modified foods are becoming public knowledge. The largest chemical company in the world owned over ninety percent of the soybeans grown in the United States in 2008. They were genetically enabled to not be affected by Roundup, a chemical that kills weeds, also manufactured by Monsanto. Do we really want a plant that can withstand toxic chemicals? Are they safe? Monsanto assures us that their seeds are perfectly safe, even though research has shown an increase in cancer in laboratory animals fed exclusively genetically modified materials.

Yes, of course our food is safe. Just ask the government. They have such an impeccable track record of having the public's best interests at heart.