Danny N's blog

For this project I worked with Josh L. and Nick H. We chose to study imported foods.

Have you ever thought how much money goes into the making of your food? In this paper, you will learn about the prices that go into your imported foods; both the actually money, and the environment costs.  Americans are able to expand their waist-lines with accessibility to cheap imported foods; those who produce those foods are paying the price. Imported foods have many costs. These foods are bad to our wallets and also to the environment. There is 9 billion dollars put into the shipping of foods each year. That’s taking a truck, a train, and even a plane to get to your supermarket. Companies are spending millions to make their packaging plants package more to meet the high demand for these foods.”In 2000 estimated that ten percent of the energy used annually in the United States was consumed by the food industry”(sustainabletable.org). On the other hand, there is the environmental price. These big factories are polluting the air and land in the surrounding area. Back to the transport of the foods, these vehicles are made for power, not to be friendly with the environment. The combination of the two is hurting our world. We need to find a different way. Is imported food worth the higher cost?  No, imported food is not worth the cost that we Americans are paying for it.  The quality of both the food and work is not right.  The workers like in Mexico for example are not being paid a fair salary.  A couple of year’s back the tomatoes we received from Mexico were recalled because of the harmful consequences they contained.  We have to be careful with imported food because the laws that apply to our food here may not be the same as in other countries.  We as Americans really don’t care where or what our food is as long as it tastes good.  June 9, 2008, seventeen of the fifty American states reported outbreaks of Salmonella from the primary source of eating raw tomatoes.  There has been one hundred sixty seven people contaminated with Salmonella and twenty three were hospitalized.  My evidence was gathered form the website Web MD. The costs of imported food may be greater than the costs of locally grown food but, which is better. What are the affects of imported foods being imported compared to locally grown foods? The carbon imprint on imported food is greater than locally grown food. Locally grown food may not taste as good as imported but, if you buy local than you are helping the environment. The FDA refuses about 200 or more shipments of food from china every month due to wide spread problems. Locally grown produce also ensures the ripest and freshest produce. Well imported foods may have some concerns, locally grown food may be a better choice in helping the environment but, it all comes down to your choices on what you want our futures to be. Although Americans are able to expand their waist-lines with accessibility to cheap imported foods; those who produce those foods are paying the price. Imported foods are a thing the world needs, but is hurting it. Its a contradiction between using this resource and hurting the environment, or taking the risk and using only local farms for the food supply.

To support our essay, we created a pie chart. The purpose of this visual argument is to show the viewers how often people buy from local farmer’s markets. 

Work Cited

“What Share of U.S. Consumed Food Is Imported? – February 2008.” USDA Economic Research Service – Home Page. Web. 01 Apr. 2011. http://www.ers.usda.gov/amberwaves/february08/datafeature/.

“Understanding Food Safety: Pesticides, Hormones, and Antibiotics in Food.” WebMD – Better Information. Better Health. Web. 01 Apr. 2011. http://www.webmd.com/health-ehome-9/pesticides-hormones-in-food?page=2.

U S Food and Drug Administration Home Page. Web. 01 Apr. 2011. http://www.fda.gov/.

Bridges, Andrew. “Imported Food Rarely Inspected – USATODAY.com.” News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World – USATODAY.com. Web. 01 Apr. 2011. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-16-imported-food_N.htm.

After I finished this activity, I saw that I was right where I was supposed to be according to the collages website. I think that I could eat more vegetables, but that’s it really. I learned that there are so many things I eat every day that are not healthy for me. And I have to try to eat healthy. On the other hand, the healthy food is more expensive. For some people who are tight on money, eating healthy could be hard. Luckily for me that’s not the case. I do like to eat vegetables. At home I will eat veggies when they are made, but sometimes there not. So I’ll just go for the unhealthy chips or cookies. This lesson has taught me to be more aware of what I eat and to make better choices.

The program Food Inc. has shown me many things about the food I eat every day. But I think that the most important thing it taught me is that the big companies are doing things that the public would not approve of. For this reason, they tell lies and keep secrets so that the average person won’t even think about where their food comes from or how it is made. Also these large companies are all about control and money. They control what the farmers plant and even who the talk to. In the video farmers, that worked for these companies, couldn’t even talk to the producers because they were threatened to be fired. they even believed that people should know what goes into their food and thought that making the movie was a good idea. I also agree, in the matter of educating people of what goes into that making of their food. Although, it shouldn’t be in a way that would turn people away of these kinds of food. For me, what I saw was an experience to be able to see what goes on in a food processing plant. But I am still going to eat these kinds of food. Some might think that breeding animals to be killed for food is wrong, but where else are we going to get food. I think its a good thing, try to get the most out of what we have. These food are not bad and they shouldn’t be treated that way.