Nov 08, 13

Lec 08 contd: Food Commodity Chains

-

Physical aspect of food

Cultural aspect of food

Readings
- So far: Ch 1 -7 in txt
- This week (Ch 8 quiz)
- Next week (Ch 9 quiz)
Review
- Food regimes
o Post modern: change from storage to Just in Time (JIT)
-

King Corn
o Industrial food regime

Have gone from less land to too much (what to do?)

Corn syrup

King Cork Issue & Evid.

o Testimonial
o Academic
o Corn representative

Food Chain
- Connection btwn production to consumption (idea of course)
- Social, natural, cultural condit. Have implications on food chain (assign focus)
Generic Commodity Chain
- Suppliers Producers (farmers) Wholesalers Processors Retailers
Consumer
o Suppliers seed sellers & fertilizer & pestic
o Producers farmers
o Wholesalers distributer = aggregate (sell collected item for more price)

Or connection group that have tech, transp

o Processors

Ripening

Factories

Washing & bagging

[dont have to memorize white slide diag]

- Point: hard to find all players in food chain
[Txtbook diag White & Grey]
- Meat chain
- Diff from fresh food
o Abattoir (slaughterhouse)
o Smokery
o Personal
-

Issues:
o Mechanical slaughter
o Animal welfare

Starbucks
- Global commodity chain
o Coffee beans come from elsewhere
o Plastic frm somewhere else
vs.
CAN coffee
- Direct transfer to consumer
- Vs. Fair Trade vs. Conventional
o Some chains have more players than others (CAN coffee has lesser than many)
Some Issues in Food Chain Mgmt
- Efficiency
- Cost
o Focus for increased efficiency
o Sometimes business dont care abt cost to cater to market (have loyal fan base)
-

Predictability
o Retailers (most) want to be recognized through consistency
o Nature doesnt contribute to predictability in food chain

Control

Sometimes food items given in season & if given in out of season, creates
issue
Reduces crop value, etc.

o Every 1 wants control (How does this relate to quality or power?)

-

Desire (demand)
o Influence food production

We want & like some things as opposed to othr

Diagram Control in Canada

- Diag showing $ tht is extracted
o 1. Consumer, 2. Raw Mater supplier Two most affected
Tactics
- Vertical & Horiz Integration
o Vertical: one company buys all steps along chain

Eg. Monsanto buys farm

Chicken farms own processing facilities, feed, etc.

Such farms have lot of control and farmers dropped if not

following orders
Major metropolitan areas

o Horiz: company buys a single aspect of commodity chain (i.e. Processing)

-

A) concentration
o Eg. More market in specific areas influenced by govt. policies

B) Appropriation
o Things tht once were not part of chain became part of bigger chain

New things brought into agri makes more economic benefit

C) Substitution
o Replace natural items w. artificial items

B4 used to come from land (agri) but now comes from petroleum byproducts

Alternative Food Systems

- Shortened supply chains
o Shorter chain connects producer w. consumer directly
-

Social embeddedness
o Creates social relat. w. farmers (trust)

Quality
o Some pps find shiny, big appealing while othrs find natural looking fruits/vegs
attractive
Defense localism

o Pps dont want to buy frm other country, etc.

Lecture 9: Nutrit & Health

Understanding Food Choices
- Taste & Texture
o Pps vary in what they like

Genetic predisposition

Early childhood conditioning

Emot. Response

Cultural contexts have associations w. food

Socio cultural envir.

o Food is embedded in social relat.
o Trends (non healthy foods, nutrit, more consumption outside)

Food trucks

Poutines

Frozen foods

Processed foods

o Ideas abt beauty & health

Body shape

Men (muscular)
o Supplements

Women
o Skinny

o Advertising

Seasonal ads for foods (i.e. weight watchers, etc.)

o Habit

Difficult to step outside routine

Food Educ Poster

- We are much more knowledgeably in nutrit than in past
o Some info very certain of while othrs not
-

Poster shows child w. bread, milk, cookies

o Very valuable bc not every 1 had access to processed foods @ the time

Now:
o Nutritional diet should consist of fruits, veggies, grains, protein, dairy

Dairy farmers advocate for inclusion in healthy diet & this shows politics
involved even in nutrition
o Ad shifts from # servings to proportion of foods

o Limitation: science (current knowledge); who designs the info?

Making Tradeoffs
- we make trade offs w.
o Quality

May $ to get more

o Time/Convenience

Sacrifice health

o Cost

May sacrifice health

Nutrients
- Carbohydrates
o E & Fibre

Helps digestion (defecation) + makes one feel full

Fats (lipids)
o E source during fasting

Proteins
o Provide amino acids needed to build & maintain tissue

Vitamins
o Organic compounds tht build tissue to regulate body process
(fat solub vs insoluble)
Minerals (major vs. trace)
o Inorganic material tht regulates fluids, maintain bones & blood, etc.

Fluids
o Water

Malnutrition
- Bad or poor-nutrit
o Under nutrition
Consuming too little E (calories) or too few nutrients
o Overnutrit:

Consuming too much E/nutrients

2009 Hunger Map (v big prob vs. less)

- S. America, India, China made huge improvement
- Subsaharan Africa hungry
- Nutrit impact vs. Economic impact

[Pictures]
- Kwashiorkor
o Pps get enuf carbs but too little protein

Growth of body ceases & stomach bloats

o Common during childhood in Global South

-

Scurvy
o Characterized by less vitamins bc lack of fruits & veg
o Sailors in Brit navy used limes to make sure they got vitamins

Goiter
o Lack of iodine results in swollen thyroid
o Some pts of world have soils w. iodine

Used as iodized salt (table salt) so goiter wouldnt have been an issue

Now, trend is towards sea salt

Food Insecurity
- Have access to food but not consistent
- Relates to less income
o Canada has as well

More common in isolated North

Issues:

Lack of social assistance/ low wages

Province discriminating

Food banks

Allowed to visit once a month

Food bank + social assistance sometimes is insufficient

Compromises dignity

Lack of choice of food

Vs. Hunger:
o Constant state of not having food to eat

Next time overnutrit. & obesity