How times have changed.
Up until the 1950’s most of the food that we ate was locally grown and therefore in season. Fresh tomatoes in July/August/ September, asparagus in April/May, corn August/September and so on.
With the introduction of national supermarkets, shipping networks of refrigerated trucks/planes, inexpensive oil, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, vitamins and antibiotics that would allow animals to live indoors in crowded conditions and factory farms around the world we can now find most fruits and vegetables year round and meat at comparatively inexpensive prices.
Food production across the world doubled four times between 1820 and 1975, while during the same period the number of people involved in the process dropped -In 1930 24% of the US population were involved in farming, by 2002 just 1.5%. The number of farmers decreased and ownership became more concentrated as the process became more automated.
Today, it is estimated that 95% of the food in our supermarkets, is processed through our conventional agriculture system, involving contract farming, seed supply , agrochemicals, processing, trade associations, marketing …………….and is under the control of a handful of large multinational corporations. The priority of these factory farms is to grow more, faster, and cheaper.
For the majority of us that shop in the supermarket, there is a curtain draw between what we see in the grocery store and how the food we eat is actually produced and handled.
Over the past few years, because of some lifestyle changes I developed an interest and the opportunity to research and educate myself on this food system. To be honest many things shocked me. I had grown up in the country in eastern Pennsylvania and was familiar with growing produce and raising steers and other farm animals for food. Ours were grass feed and free to roam the pastures as it suited them. While they ended up on our dinner table, the life they lived was humane and natural for them.
Years later, when I had a piece of meat or even vegetables, I never really wondered where something came from or how it was raised. I thought I knew!! Well, let me be the first to admit….. I knew absolutely nothing about was was really going on until I started to research and educate myself. While it took many hours and some major digging around , I was glad that I did. Many of the things that I uncovered have led me to make different choices in what I was selecting to put into my body. Since making these changes I have found myself to be in better health, with more energy and able to maintain a healthy weight with little or no effort.
Listed here are some of the things that I learned along the way:
The average supermarket has over 45,000 different product on the shelves; they are mostly manufactured products, and processed with sugar, fat, salt and other additives. Much of it was created to use up the surplus corn and soybean crops that are produced in this country.
Most of the food that we put on the table has traveled over 1500 miles
Nearly 10 billion animals are raised and killed in the U.S. annually.
Nearly all of them are raised under inhumane conditions on factory farms. These factory farms are unsafe in our food system, and pollute the surrounding communities, contributing greatly to global warming. The majority of the meat found in supermarkets has been raised in factory farms, where the animals are crowded and not fed their natural diets. Because of this they are treated with antibiotics regularly. 70% of the antibiotics that are used in the USA are given to livestock.
Crops are being genetically modified for resistance to pests, pesticides, faster growth, higher crop yield, tolerance for long transportation hauls, and in some cases not get ripe until they are triggered to do so. Taste and nutrients are not a first priority.
- Currently 91% of the soybeans grown in the U.S. are genetically modified, 75% of the canola, and 85% of the corn. All three of these crops are key ingredients in many processed foods…soda, crackers, cereals, cookies, chips, etc… (you get the picture)
- The Center for Food Safety contends that up to 70 percent of soda, soup, crackers and other processed goods sold under major household brands are GM derived.
- Food crops, evaluated by the FDA, that have been genetically modified for consumption include: soybeans, corn, tomatoes, potatoes , cotton (83%), papaya (50%), rice, canola, sugar beet, flax, radishes, cantaloupe and squash.
- In the U.S., the products produced with genetically modified ingredients do not have to be labeled. This is unlike many European countries, as well as China.
Pesticides and herbicides are associated with a number of diseases including cancers, autism, Parkinson Disease and other neurological disorders.
- Pesticides, herbicides are used regularly in conventional farming,in production of crops in the USA as well as those we import.
- Mexico currently does not ban at least 6 pesticides that are banned due to health effects in the USA. Why does this matter to us? We get most of our off-season vegetables from Mexico: 97% of tomatoes, 93% of our cucumbers, 95% of our squash, 99% eggplant, and 85% of our strawberries.
Country of Origin
- While raw vegetables and fruits need to carry a country of origin label, this is not necessary for ingredients used in processed foods or meat. Ground burger can come from a number of different sources, both in and out of the country and it can be all mixed together before shipping to the supermarkets. The same holds true with processed foods: canned dry, frozen, etc. When a problem rises with a contamination it can be difficult tracing the ingredients back to the source of the problem.
Milk
- Many conventional dairy farms use genetically engineered growth hormones for their dairy cows, known as rBGH. Introduced in the United States in 1994, rBGH is a drug to extend milk production after a cow gives birth. Health Care Without Harm, a global coalition of hospitals and other health groups, believes the drug is dangerous because it increases the likelihood of infection in the cow’s udder, which leads to greater antibiotic use in the animals. That contributes to antibiotic-resistance in humans.
Fertilizers on Conventional Farms
- Agribusinesses use the same land over and over again, and uses large quantities of synthetic fertilizers to try to restore the nutritional content of the soil. As a result, many vegetables are becoming less healthy and less nutritional. For instance, a USDA report comparing American broccoli between 1975 and 1997 shows that it has decreased in many important nutrients: broccoli in 1997 had 53% less calcium, 20% less iron, 38% less Vit A, 17% less Vit C, 35% less thiamin, 48% less riboflavin, and 29% less Niacin than 1975 broccoli. Additionally, food that is transported loses nutrients over time.
Meat (Beef, Pork, Chicken, Turkey) and Eggs
- So the conditions that livestock is raised in in factory farms was really hard for me to believe. The details would turn most away from a steak dinner. I will spare you the details here but you can go out to You Tube and search factory farms for some vivid examples or better in my opinion is to read The Food Revolution or check out their website for examples of their findings… you can find it here.
All of the information mentioned above is not about giving anything up, it is really about understanding the consequences of our choices. The good news is we have choices.
