Assignment 17- David chen(i accidently wrote 16 for this)

Everyone likes cheap products, but they always come with a price to pay, both figuratively and literally. In the case of food, people often overlook where their food comes from and what it’s made of because of its relatively low cost. Although one may think that in modern times, our regulatory agencies closely monitor these companies and do everything in their power to keep us safe, it’s quite the opposite.

                In the world of food production, just a few major, international wield all the power. The way food is produced now has been altered more in the past century than in thousands of years before that. This gives rise to new benefits and consequences. An abundance of food is always good but when one trades quality for quantity, issues arise. The current procedure of mass-producing plump chickens raises questions of morality. Chickens are raised in tightly packed, dimly lit rooms with thousands of other chickens. There’s no space to move and even if there were, the chickens can’t move on their own. The farmers are required to inject the chickens with hormones and antibiotics to the point where the chicken’s body has developed too much mass for its legs to carry the weight. Though these conditions sound horrific, chickens aren’t the only ones that these large companies take advantage of.

                The American consumers aren’t the only ones losing control of their food. Farmers nowadays are being bought out and controlled by large companies. Farmers have little to no control over what they grow or how to grow it. Contracts bind these hard working folk to mandatory operation requirements and additions to increase the debt the farmers have and prevent them from quitting. Corporations have even engineered seeds that can only be planted once so farmers must come back every season for crops.

                Companies have gotten so focused on the concept of making their product as cheap as possible to make as much as possible that now some products sold aren’t real. The dominance of major companies controlling a majority of the industry also results in an increasing foreign dependence on food. A huge amount of food and supplements come from countries, like china, which is potentially deadly since China’s food exports aren’t very well regulated and are filled with high levels of dangerous substances. Apart from what’s inside the food we might not even realize if the food is what we think. There is an increase in fake food coming from China. Due to corporate greed, counterfeit products are becoming more and more common and the consumers are suffering.

                The advancement of food production and use of new science isn’t all for the best. The old tried and true ways of small farmers providing organic produce tend to be healthier. The money saved by buying products a little cheaper doesn’t really make up for the potential damage to one’s health. Companies focusing on availability should shift their interest to the effect of their products on consumers, because without the customers the companies are nothing.

Food, Inc. Dir. Robert Kenner. Movie One, 2008. DVD.

"Stop Tyson Foods! - Animal Legal Defense Fund." Animal Legal Defense Fund Stop Tyson Foods Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 June 2014.

Richardson, Robert. "The Dangers of Our Food Supply: We Are No Longer in Control." The Dangers of Our Food Supply: We Are No Longer in Control. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 June 2014.

Bond, Richard. "Cramer Interviews Tyson Foods CEO." Interview by Jim Cramer. Mad Money. CNBC. 20 Aug. 2012. Television.