The Corruption of Food

There is a incompatibility between a system based on private ownership monopolies and the production of sustainable, healthy food.
Eating habits have changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000.This tells us how mass food production has impacted on consumption. The quality of the food has decreased consistently due to the bulking processes of the raw material, creating health problems to the consumers in the long run, just for more profit. Some of the facts and figures are chilling.

Such is the monopolisation of the meat industry, that the top five US meatpacking companies in the 1970s owned 20 percent of the local market. Today, these same companies own 80 percent, with regulatory agencies virtually controlled by these giant companies. In 1972, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) worked in approximately 50,000 food safety inspections a year. These stats had dropped to only 9,164 in 2006 for obvious reasons: it´s not profitable to have all of the food quality controlled.

Corn production is heavily subsidised in the US: about 30 percent of the main country is used for corn cultivation purposes. Corn is included in countless foods items, specially in fast foods, which makes it much cheaper than fresh products.

Corn is nowadays a major element for beef cattle, but this has increased E.coli infections in the U.S., and this type of E.coli can evolve in the animals into E.coli 757, with deadly results. In example, this led to the death of a two-year-old girl who had eaten E.coli 757 contaminated beef. The company that sold the infected meat did not withdraw it from supermarkets until 16 days after the child’s death. They have yet to apologize to the child’s family.

Moreover, fast food is filled with calories from refined sugar and fats (especially, the artery-clogging saturated fats, which are reheated to high temperatures for frying purposes).
It is also high in sodium, coming from common salt and other additives. Furthermore, fast food is low in dietary fiber and vital micro-nutrients such as vitamins and minerals.

The Consequences

Eating fast food and being physically inactive only adds to the problem of obesity. Not many people know that obesity is a major risk factor for a large number of deadly diseases like hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, and even many types of cancers.

Recent scientific studies have proved that high-calorie foods rich in fats, refined sugar and salt can reconfigure hormones in the human body in such a way that they make you crave for such foods and always leave you asking for more.

In other words, fast food is somewhat addictive; you turn dependent on it, consuming it in an uncontrolled way even though you know that it is unhealthy. The more you consume, the more difficult it is for you include healthy foods in your diet.

Why do they let this happen?

One word explains it all: PROFIT. Only McDonald´s, the biggest fast food company, profits around 22 billion dollars a year, enough to bribe every government in the world so the food quality is not checked that often. These companies feed us with food that damages our system in the long run, but gives us enough time to be a good client for many years. What can we do about it? Eat healthy.