Globalisation changes how the world is
run, food is produced, manufactured, and sold differently from just 100 years
ago. For example, rice grown in Thailand may be packaged in India and sold in a
supermarket in the UK. In this essay I will be discussing impacts on the food
industry caused by globalisation, the role our government plays in this, and
what individual consumers can do.
The source of food
A big problem in the food industry is
that they don't want the consumer to know what they're eating or where it comes
from because the consumer may not want to eat it after finding out. This is why
many people have no idea where their food is coming from. Although the average
supermarket has 47,000 products many of these come from the same companies and
crops making it look as though there is a wide selection when in reality there
is not. This is especially evident in the meat industry; only a handful of TNCs
are controlling the entire food industry. Globalisation has fuelled this
massively which is evident as in 1970 the 5 top beef packers controlled 25% of
the market where as today the top 4 control 80% of the market!
Globalised corn
Due to its cheap, easy to grow and store
qualities corn is now the major food source for the world. In the USA 30% of
the land base is used to grow corn and due to government policies farmers are
paid to overproduce the crop. Farmers are producing so much corn that
scientists had to make new uses for it. (see limited food options below*)
This excessive amount has led one food scientist to suggest that 90% of the
processed food in supermarkets contain 'either a corn or soybean ingredient and
most of the time they contain both'. This therefore allows companies like
Monsanto to control the whole food industry as they patent corn seed. They
produced a herbicide which kills weeds but not the crop and sold it to farmers.
Now due to this patent, many small farmers have been sued for saving a
replanting the seed the following year many losing their business and life
savings in the process. This is because of mounting legal fee's which are
always in vain as Monsanto has never lost a case. Due to corn being so cheap
and available farmers are feeding corn to animals such as cows who should
naturally be eating grass. However feeding cows corn evolves a certain mutation
creating E. Coli which is extremely harmful. (More information in Human and
animal health**)
Corn is so cheap and fattens chickens quickly,
therefore it has driven the price of meat down. Over 200lbs of meat per person
per year would not be possible without this cheap corn diet. But it is it worth
risking our own health and ethics for economic gain.
Limited food options. (genetically
modified food)
There is a problem with the limited
options of our food as so much processed food is just a rearrangement of corn*
e.g. cellulose which can be found in products like bottled milkshakes, white
bread, and low-fat ice cream. Also high fructose corn syrup which can be found
in products like soft drinks, cereal, yogurt, and chocolate. There is also a
problem when manufacturers add chemicals into our food for example the tomatoes
you find in supermarkets are picked when green and ripened with ethylene gas.
Cows are often fed antibiotics to speed up growth then naturally due to the
food chain when we eat beef we are ingesting antibiotics. This consumption has
been linked to people becoming immune to antibiotics. WHO said 'emerging drug
resistance in bacteria is one of the world’s greatest health threats.' Some
companies have now stared to cleanse hamburger meat with ammonia to help kill
E. coli which is becoming more common in beef. Food scientists are constantly
reengineering our food so that it lasts longer on our shelves this reduces the
amount of food waste however in the UK £12 billion of good food is still thrown
away each year. This reengineering does allow mass production to feed our
growing population as much more, food can be produced. In the article 'the
future of the global food system' it says 'The supply
and availability of food has been a crucial factor shaping the emergence,
development and persistence of human civilizations throughout the ages'. Due to
globalisation as the world population grows the demand for food increases. Chickens
are being raised in half the time they were in the 1950s (49 days vs. 3 months)
but are ending up twice as big due to antibiotics among other things. All
because people like white meat so scientists redesigned the chicken to have
bigger breasts.
Health humans and animals
At the super market sweets, crisps and soft drinks
are all cheaper than fresh fruit and vegetables. This is because the corn,
wheat, and soybeans in these snacks are cheap and heavily subsidised. This is a
massive cause of worldwide obesity levels rising especially in poorer countries
such as Mexico. Even in the UK we are directly impacted as type 2 diabetes only
used to affect adults and now it is affecting children on a massive scale.
Modern food production is all about doing things faster, bigger, and cheaper
people working at 'Smithfield hog processing plant' said the company has 'the
same mentality towards workers as they do the hogs'. They slaughter 32,000 hogs
per day (2,000 hogs an hour) and employees get infections from handling the
guts so much thus making meat packing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the
US and it is done by a lot of illegal immigrants. Animals at factory farms
stand ankle deep in their manure all day long so if one cow has E. Coli others
can get it too, at a slaughter house the cows are covered in manure therefore
if you are slaughtering 400 cows per hour it’s hard to keep it from spreading.
So this harmful strain of E. Coli, that didn’t used to be in the world, is now
a problem. In the USA there are only 13 slaughterhouses for the majority of
beef. Ground beef from the supermarket has thousands of different cows mixed up
in it so the chance of one of those cows in meat having a disease is increased.
After eating a burger contaminated with E. Coli a woman’s 2-year-old son went
from a perfectly healthy boy to being dead in 12 days. In the 90’s some
industrial meat factories were tested for E. Coli and if they failed they were
supposed to be shut down however there was not enough authority to close the
contaminated plants. E. Coli is even in spinach and apple juice because of the
run off from factory farms however regulatory agencies are being controlled by
the very companies they are supposed to be scrutinizing. There has always been
food poisoning, but food is not getting safer it is becoming more contaminated
because with the bigger factories it spreads the problem far and wide. Chicken
farms produce a lot of food, on a small amount of land, for a very affordable
price. A Tyson Chicken farmer said 'the chickens never even see sunlight they
are kept day and night in chicken houses with no windows'. When chickens grow
from a baby chic to a 5.5 lb. chicken in 7 weeks the bones can’t keep up with
growth which means some can’t handle weight that they are carrying so when they
try to take a few steps they fall down.
The government’s role
The Government is controlled by the industries it
is supposed to be regulating due to former industry executives that are now
government regulators. In the USA 70% of processed foods contain some sort of
GMO the food industry fought against having to label foods as GMO and won. It
is also against the law to criticize the food industry’s foods thanks to the
“Veggie Libel Laws” which saw Oprah getting sued after she said she wouldn't
eat another burger. In the US state Colorado it is actually illegal and you can
go to prison for criticizing their foods.
Change by consumer
The average consumer does not feel very powerful
and it is the exact opposite because when we buy our food we are choosing local or not or organic or not. Individual consumers changed
Wal-Marts milk options to now offer organic. The tobacco industry had huge
control over public policy and it is the perfect model on how an industry’s
irresponsible behavior was changed. The food industry will deliver to the
marketplace what the marketplace demands so if good wholesome food is demanded
it will be delivered. Choose foods that are in season, local, organic and read the labels when you go to the
supermarket.
Over
all the globalisation of the food industry is mainly fuelled by an increase in
demand due to a growing population. The positive points of this seem to be the
cheap and widely available sources of food. However it is a double edged sword
because we could have these positive impacts without the majority of the
extensive negative impacts such as death, disease and poor health, if it wasn't
for the economic greed of large companies like Monsanto.
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