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Running Head: Dangers

Dangers of Food
Jesus Vigil
College of the Desert






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The human body, its an interesting specimen and it works
in so many ways. The human body has many needs in which it must
to be taken care of. The most important requirement for the
human body to function properly and to survive is food. Without
a doubt we humans love to eat. Food is very tasty and very
satisfying. Humans normally eat three meals a day or can even
spread it into five or six smaller meals a day, and lets not
forget snacking is thrown in as well. Humans are supposed to
consume roughly 2,000 to 2,500 calories daily. Food helps fuel
the brain, gives the body strength and energy to function, and
ultimately satisfies an empty and hungry stomach and keeps a
person with a smile on their face. Though food is tasty and
satisfying, and of course a necessity for humans to survive, the
one thing humans need to survive can also kill them. Many would
think the main dangers of food would be overeating which leads
to obesity. Though obesity is a serious issue with food, the
bigger dangers of food are food quality, food processing, and
foodborne pathogens caused by food coming from fast food chains
and industrialized meat packing plants. In the documentary Food
Inc. (2008) it is clarified Even if you are not eating at a
fast food restaurant, you are still eating food from the system
of fast food industries. People should be aware of this fact if
they did not know already because the questions regarding the
three issues come up. What are the dangers of food produced by
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industrialized meat packing, what has been the impact of these
dangers, and what could be the solution to preventing foodborne
illnesses? There needs to be more protection from fast food
chains and meat packing industries because thousands of food
related illness and deaths have occurred as a result.
The three dangers of food which can kill humans are food
quality, food processing and food pathogens; it starts with food
quality. Food quality is the one thing humans look at when it
comes to eating; if it looks good and smells good then youll
eat it, whether youre eating at home or outside of home.
However, people are being deceived by fast food restaurants and
meat packing industries when it comes to food quality. We as
humans are tricked into thinking fast food offers good quality
food because of the way fast food industries advertise their
products, making the food quality look to be like perfection fit
for a king. In reality it is not perfection or good quality.
Many fast food restaurants have low food quality. In the article
Top 10 reasons not to eat fast food author Claire Gallam
(2012) quotes They use the cheapest parts to make products so
when youre eating your hamburger you have no darn clue what
part of the cow it came from, heck is it even cow you are
eating. This in fact is true. Along with low food quality it is
also lack of food preparation, food safety, and the fact of what
is really inside of the food you eat? Which leads into the next
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issue, food processing.
Its known for a fact that food industries do not want
people to know what exactly they are eating, because they may
not want to eat it if they knew what exactly was in their food,
particularly in the meat packing and when it comes to preparing
the cows for slaughter. Its no secret the cows are treated poor
and inhumanly when they are going through the process of
becoming ground beef and everyone knows that by now, except what
people may not know is that whatever the cows were fed before
they were turned into ground beef, may be in fact what we humans
are eating in hamburgers and other ground beef products. It was
proven that instead of being fed grass and because of rising
prices of grain, cows were fed other substances to accelerate
growth. Author of Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser(2001) informs
us that About 75 percent of cows in the United States were
routinely fed livestock wastes, the rendered remains of dead
sheep and dead cattle; they were also fed dead cats and dead
dogs purchased from animal shelters.(pg.202).Ultimately what
the cows were eating is now what humans are eating as well. The
rapid pace of the meat packing assembly lines is another reason,
a majority of the workers do not have enough time to properly
sanitize the meat and along with that they do not clean or
disinfect the knives they use to cut the meat, which causes
bacteria to spread in the meat and it gets sent to us as
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consumers unaware of hazardous meat that has had a deadly
impact.
The impact of tainted meat or any other food product can
lead to widespread epidemics and have deadly consequences. In
the past two decades here in the United States there have been
several types of foodborne illnesses discovered. Of all the
diseases discovered the most common and perhaps most deadly is E
Coli 0157; H7. It was proven by author Eric Schlosser (2001)
that In the United Sates roughly 200,000 people are sickened by
a foodborne disease, 900 are hospitalized, and fourteen end up
dying (pg.195). So every day in the U.S. somebody is ill with E
Coli or another foodborne disease all thanks to tainted meat.
Beef having become more popular more consumed in the U.S. before
and after WWII, the average American started eating three
hamburgers or other beef products a week (Food Inc.2008). From
1993 through 2007 there was an epidemic of tainted meat products
and foodborne diseases. In attempts to prevent wide spreads a
recall for over 35 million pounds of packaged meat was recalled
during this time period, but it proved to be unsuccessful
because by the time of the recall about 25 million pounds of
beef had been consumed. Just recently back in February, The USDA
opened an investigation into the Northern California firm behind
a massive recall of nearly 9 million pounds of beef products. In
his article USDAs inspector general investigating firm behind
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beef recall, journalist from L.A.Times Ricardo Lopez (2014)
states federal regulators said the plant processed diseased and
unsound animals, without full federal inspection, the products
were unsound, unwholesome or otherwise are unfit for human food
and must be removed from commerce(pg.1).Without a doubt there
needs to be protection from the fast food chains and meat
packing industries, otherwise the epidemic of foodborne diseases
will continue to spread and will affect our future generations
to come.
In conclusion there can be many solutions to help prevent
thousands of people from eating food that can end up causing
them to get sick and possibly dying. For one the fast food
industries could offer way better food quality, properly prepare
each meal, and provide fresh food products rather than provide
meat that has been sitting in a giant freezer for a long time.
Solutions for the slaughter houses and meat packing plants can
be to slow down the assembly lines so the workers may properly
cut and sanitize the meat and going back to the humane side of
slaughter by feeding the cows just grass and grain. As for the
problem with foodborne diseases, the best solution to prevent
this would for the USDA and FDA to make some sort of law to
where every single meat product, whether it be beef, pork or
chicken, be properly inspected and declared safe for humans to
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eat. We as humans should not have to suffer for the tainted food
products provided by the industrialized food system. In Bryan
Walshs article This Land Is Your Land (2011) he comments on
Joel Salatins thoughts on the industrial food system by quoting
Salatin proposes nothing less than an extreme decentralization
of the food system, no fast food joints, no whole food shipping
organic produce from half a continent away. You eat what you
raise or eat whats raised around you.(pg.53-54) I think
Salatin is on the same page as dozens of others who would agree
that there needs to be more done to protect people from tainted
food products because everyone knows we humans need food to
survive instead of killing us.








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References
Gallam, C. (2012, June 1). Top 10 reasons not to eat fast food. SHEKNOWS FOOD &
RECIPES. Retrieved from http://www.sheknows.com/
Kenner, D. (Director). (2008) Food Inc. [Documentary]. United Sates: Mongolia Pictures
Lopez, R. (2014, February 11). USDAs inspector general investigating firm behind beef
recall. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/
Schlosser, E. (2001). Fast Food Nation. New York: Mariner Mifflin Harcourt.
Walsh, B. (2011). This Land Is Your Land: Joel Salatin wants to lead America back to the
farm. Time, 52-54.