The Ethics of Food

2008

I recently watched Food Inc., a documentary about the deplorable changes to the food industry in the United States, and subsequently in Canada. The most applicable lesson I learned from my university degree was the importance of being a critical consumer of information, so I will not quote lines or stats from the movie because I know that it is in its own way one-sided and does not reflect all farmers, companies, or products. I do believe after watching it and from reading holistic magazines and speaking with my naturopath that some parts of the film must be true. For that reason, I am more than disgusted at the state of our food industry.

I am certainly not as clean of an eater as I should be and I love fast food and sugar and chips as much as the next person who is well aware how terrible each one of those things are for them while scarfing them down. I wasn't surprised by the information in this category, after all it is well known that eating McDonald's is not healthy and I have seen Super Size Me. The concern comes from the low standards put on the everyday foods that I consume, the ones that I assumed were healthier choices based on labelling. Since watching the movie I have learned about Genetically Modified Foods, which are everywhere and that there is a special coating on apples that makes them storable for longer periods of time. Chickens aren't allowed to roam free and are force fed inside cages that are stored in hen houses without light, some cows are fed so much so fast that their legs cannot keep up with their weight causing them to be immobile. Hormones are added to milk. Pesticides are sprayed all over crops. If you have to wear a mask to spray it, shouldn't that be a sign in and of itself that maybe it shouldn't be used on food? The movie interviewed farmers who had law suits served by companies for refusal to comply with their inhumane rules and subsequently they went out of business. Did you know there is corn in batteries? Corn! Bigger and faster and making things out of GMO corn = big $$$. The brand names that I thought were reputable were put to shame. Marketing ploys revealed and I am left wondering how it got to be this bad? Who allowed this? My local health food store will not sell Burts Bees products because they are a company owned by Clorox. They do the research but how many of us do? And where do you go to find out this information?  

The recommendations for healthy and environmentally sustainable living were to eat locally, in-season, and organically whenever possible, and research the companies you choose to purchase from, which can prove to be as difficult as remembering how many times Victor Newman has been married. They suggest buying free-range, grain-fed meat and eggs and it turns out they are a lot harder to find than you'd think. It takes some serious investigative work to scope out these products and it costs a ludicrous amount to feed a family with them. Fast food is a whole lot cheaper, which is a point made in the movie. Parents stated that they knew it was not a healthy choice but they fed their kids Burger King value meals over vegetables from the supermarket because they would be fuller for longer. 

Why is it that what should be consumed as an occasional treat, such as pop or chips, is the norm because they are cheaper to eat than a salad and milk? Should it not be the other way around? When obesity and disease rates are skyrocketing, costing health care what I can only imagine is billions, why doesn't someone in the higher power world make it more affordable to eat healthy? Maybe try being preventative rather than reactive? I have never taken a corse in marketing, business, or economics, however, I would like to think common sense prevails here so I will go ahead and say that the governing bodies of food industry have it backwards and we are suffering from it. 

I know we all have choices to make but some people cannot afford to chose what they would prefer. When it is almost $6 for a dozen brown free-range, grain-fed, certified organic eggs and $10 for 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts of the same variety....well how does one feed a family when rising fuel costs are driving prices in all areas of living to increase and then jobs are being lost and no one is hiring? To buy kamut pasta with organic sauce does not make the budget cut when competing against a mortgage payment. Zoodles it is. Our local Easter Food Drive happened over the weekend and I was thinking to myself what would be better when I'm shopping for our contribution: fewer items with higher nutritional value which would only feed a few people, or a bag full of items with BPA-lined cans, GMOs, preservatives, and probably some variety of corn masked as flour, which would feed more people. 

What is the right thing to do in a society that values bigger and better over quality and process? I have made a more conscious effort to look for organic foods made in Ontario or at least Canada. I look at labels to see if I can pronounce the ingredients. I ask around for reputable stores and hope I am making the right choices. My grocery bills have increased a lot so I guess that means spending needs to be cut somewhere else. I'm assuming that will be my latte budget :(

Brennan eating his organic sugar-free cookies from the Easter Bunny