Food Consumerism

“What are the main environmental, social and economic effects that food consumerism
causes to modern world, and how are we as humans responsible for this issue”

The eating habits of society as a whole have increased drastically over the past few decades. With the
increase of technology, marketing and changes within cultural perspective on food, the world has
shifted into an age where food is commercially produced in every sector. Since the beginning of
marketing and consumerism in the food industry, the tactics used to sell food has changed over the past
few decades. From the period of 1910-1920, the state of marketing could be easily described as ““all
those activities involved in the distribution of goods from producers to consumers and in the transfer of
the title thereto,” (Van Trijp). In the case of food consumerism, there are 4 main ways that companies
use in order to market their food, “selling, buying, transporting and storing” (Van Trijp).

By the 1930’s, the food market started to develop into the consumer market as competition for the
consumers money increased. Therefore, food suppliers had to figure out ways to increase their sales or
to exceed the sales of other competing companies. This is then where the term ‘consumerism’, “The
protection or the promotion of goods to the consumer” (Dictionary.com) was born. Since that time, the
development of technology has shifted the standards of marketing and advertising which ultimately
contributed towards the marketing of food and food consumerism as we know of it today.

In the modern day era there are many reasons to what causes food consumerism in this world:

 World’s population
 Standard of Living

As the world’s population starts to near 10 billion, the consumption of food, water and energy is
expanding at a rate that cannot be maintained without the depletion of the planets resources. As
technological advancement increases, the world has been able to produce more food at a commercial
rate. The production of more food encourages the world’s population to increase, therefore as the
population increases more food will be needed to sustain that growth. Due to the increase of production
in the food business, companies start to invest more money into food consumerism as they’re sales
increases as the population increases.
“Diagram 1. (World’s population growth, 1750-2100), taken from: (https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth)”
“Diagram 2. (Food supply by region in kilocalories per person per day, 1961-2013), taken from:
(https://ourworldindata.org/food-per-person)”

As we can see from diagram 1, the world’s population increases dramatically as the years progress.
Before the 1800’s the annual growth rate never increased beyond 1%, however, as we enter into the
20th century the growth rate increases to 2.1% which was the biggest growth rate ever recorded. This
means that during the 20th century the world’s population quadrupled. In diagram 2, as the year
progress from 1961-2013 we can see that the amount of calories that a person consumes each day has
increased annually. If we were to compare both graphs we can see that that the amount of food that is
consumed is proportional to the growth of a population.

“Diagram 3. (Food production index 2004-2006=100), taken

from:(https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.PRD.FOOD.XD?end=2016&start=1961&view=chart)”

In diagram 3, we can see that as the year progresses from the 20th century to the 21st century. The
amount of food that is produced increases dramatically from 1965-1980, this can be explained through
the data from diagram 1. In diagram 1, the annual growth rate of the population of the world was at
2.1%, therefore, meaning that more food had to be produced in order to sustain the rapid growth of the
population.
“Diagram 4 (GDP- per capita) Taken from:( https://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=xx&v=67)”

A second factor that affects food consumerism is the GDP of a nation or how economically rich a country
is. As we can see in diagram 4, the GDP of the world increases from 1999-2017 however, we can see a
rapid growth in GDP from 2013-2017. GDP causes food consumerism to increase because when people
have more access towards money they are able to purchase more things or specifically in this case food.
Since people can purchase a wider variety of foods, this means that foods that are usually expensive
such as imported foods can be purchased. This then causes companies to invest more money into food
consumerism as it opens a gateway to potential increase in sales for the company as there are more
potential products to be sold.
“Diagram 5 (World food prices, 1960-2012), taken from:( http://www.worldwatch.org/global-food-prices-continue-rise-0)”

In diagram 5, it shows that from 1960-2012 the prices of food drops. This could have been caused
through technological advancement in the production of food meaning that companies can produce
more food in a shorter amount of time. Because people are able to afford more things due to a high
GDP, companies immediately produce more food (As seen from diagram 3) and as the amount of an
item increase the price of the item decreases.

In order to sustain the growing population, companies have developed many processes in order to
produce and sell their food efficiently:

 Import and Export

 Marketing
 Production of infrastructure

When it comes to import and export, companies usually have two ways to transport their products, the
first being through air and the second through cargo. During the 1950’s the volume of international
trade has multiplied by twenty and five hundred million containers are shipped every year. The main
factor that affects the frequency of import and export is GDP as the more money a country has the more
they can afford to purchase things.
“Diagram 6 (US International Monthly Trade In Goods & Services), taken from:(
https://blogs.sas.com/content/sastraining/2015/08/03/creating-a-better-graph-to-show-trade-deficit/)”

As we can see in diagram 6, In the USA it shows that trend for imports and exports are increasing
annually each year. More imports and exports are occurring because countries such as the USA have a
large GDP which in this case is $59,531, therefore their purchasing power increases which mean that the
country can afford to import items for their population. However, some countries such as Singapore
require import and export as they are not able to grow crops that are indigenous to their land. Because
of this Singapore would need to heavily rely onto import and exports, hence why Singapore has a high
import scale in diagram 7.

“Diagram 7 (Exports and Imports, Indonesia & Singapore), taken from:(

https://ekonomiinternasional2014.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/first-homework-exportgdp-ratio-
importgdp-ratio-and-tradegdp-ratio/)”

In Diagram 7, both the import and exports of Singapore and Indonesia are compared. We can see that
Singapore’s import and export are greater compared to Indonesia’s. Once again this has to do with the
GDP of the country, Indonesia’s GDP being $3,846 whilst Singapore’s being $57,714. When it comes to
the resources required for import and export, the GDP of a nation determines the amount of resources
that are used. Diagram 7, also proves that bio capacity has a big role in export and import of a country.
Indonesia has a bigger bio capacity than Singapore, therefore, they can grow crops and farm for
agriculture, hence they have a low import and export. According to diagram 8, the percentage of fuel
used for import and export is 12%, therefore meaning that 8.7 million tons of coal are used every year in
order to sustain the import and export. Therefore, coal companies will have to dig for more coal and fuel
in order to support import and exports of a nation.
“Diagram 8 (Fuel exports), Taken from:(
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/TX.VAL.FUEL.ZS.UN?view=chart)”

A second process that occurs is marketing. The first aspect of marketing would be the actual promotion
of the product itself. Before and during World war 2, food products were advertised through women
and through households. Advertisements back in the day were kept simple, and the only real method of
advertising was usually through the radio or the newspaper. In the modern day era however, we have
numerous ways of marketing and selling products to consumer. An example of these methods would be:
Magazine ads, TV commercial, Billboards and etc. However, advertisement in the past few decades has
evolved into luring they’re consumers into purchasing their product. Normally they aim for a specific
group of consumers and lure them in using click bait or through alluring questions.

A second aspect of marketing would be the actual packaging of the product. Though this aspect isn’t as
important as marketing, this aspect is still considered as one of the most important ones. Design of the
product should be made visually appealing for consumers as consumers need to be lured into wanting
to buy the product. However, the cost of packaging requires a lot of resources such as plastic as
companies are constantly producing new designs. These packaging’s are then usually thrown away and
are sometimes unrecyclable which then causes environmental issues. According to diagram 11, the
amount of energy that is put into handling/packaging is 48.5% and this is caused through the fact that
the energy is used to manufacture the materials for the packaging and once the packaging has been
created the actual product which is food has to be stored ( e.g it would be stored in a refrigerator and
that uses up a lot of energy).

The third and final process is the actual manufacturing of the entire product. In this process we can
break it down into two segments, natural resources and infrastructure resources. Regarding natural
resources, an example of a resource that would be used during the manufacturing process would be
fossil fuels. An example to how we would extract fossil fuels from the earth would be mining deep into
the earth’s crust to extract the fossil fuel. The fossil fuel is then combusted to heat water, the steam
from the water will then turn an energy turbine and energy is then sent to companies. This energy is
then used by machines to manufacture their product or to harvest yield on a farm.

The second aspect which was infrastructure resources, refers to the resource needed to create building/
farms for the product In this case we will use farms as an example. In order to build a farm, land is
required. Normally to obtain this land trees would be cut down in order to make room for the farm and
the trees that are cut down are usually used to build the farm. Any other additional materials such as
Iron are usually imported or transported by other companies which means that more fossil fuels are
consumed. Once the farm is created, animals are transported in as well as the food that is needed for
them. On average the amount of water needed to sustain a cow is 1800 gallons meaning that every year
millions of gallons of water are used up, therefore, losing another natural resource.

With all the processes and causes, come effects that will be split into two factors, the two factors being
environmental and social. Regarding Environmental effects we will first describe the effect that import
and export has on the environment.

“Diagram 9 (CO2 levels), Taken from: (https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/)”

When it comes to Import and export the environmental damages can be measured on the percentage of
fuel used. According to diagram 8, the amount of fuel used globally for import was 12%. When planes
combust fuel they release three types of harmful gases, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur
dioxide. When carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere it causes global warming as carbon
dioxide is a greenhouse gas and greenhouse gases traps rays of sunlight that enter the earth. This then
causes polar ice caps to melts which reduces the amount of fresh water that we have and sea levels to
rise as the heat makes the water expand. When nitrogen dioxide and Sulfur Dioxide is released into the
atmosphere, the dissolve into water vapor and from there they create an acidic solution. The acidic
solution being nitric acid and sulfuric acid, this then causes acid rain as the water vapor collects and
forms a cloud. Acid rain can then dissolve calcium carbonate base infrastructure and acidify lakes which
kills organisms. Carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide is also produced through the
transport of necessary materials for the construction of infrastructure as well as to harvest the food
needed to feed the animals on the farm as well as to maintain the crops.

Second effect would be the environmental effect on the manufacturing of infrastructure. During the
manufacturing of infrastructure, transport is needed in order to deliver the necessary materials for the
construction of the building. An example we will be using is a farm, the materials that are needed to
make the farm depletes the amount of natural resources in this earth. According to diagram 10, we can
see that the natural resource storage in Canada sees a decline. This can be cause for a multitude of
reasons which include the fact of the growing population and modernization of Canada. This then
demands more modern infrastructure to be built in Canada which then depletes the resource ( it can
also be used for trade). During the clearing of the land, we will be cutting trees, therefore, if the rate of
deforestation is increasing due to the construction of infrastructure then we will have less trees. Having
less trees can mean that less oxygen will be in the earth as we have less trees to convert carbon dioxide
to oxygen. Some companies however, do not cut the trees, instead they burn the forest and this can
then cause desertification. Desertification is when all forms of vegetation is removed which in simple
terms makes the land a desert. Desertification can then contribute to global warming as it reflects the
rays of sunlight which is then trapped by the greenhouse gases.

“Diagram 10 ( Canada’s natural resource

storage), taken from:
(https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton
/stats-canada-natural-resources-decline-
1.3899824)”

”Diagram 11 (Energy in Food production), taken from :( https://www.chooseenergy.com/blog/energy-

101/energy-food-production)”
The final aspect of the effects is society. During the process of the manufacturing of the goods such as
the production of food packaging, many of the workers are put into contact with harmful chemicals.
Some of these harmful chemicals like ammonia and sulphuric acid can cause physical damages like
inflammation and if the dosages of chemicals are high, brain damage can occur. Because of this issue,
the usage and production of industrial robots has increased greatly. As we can see from diagram 12, we
can see that as the year progresses from 2013-2020 the production of industrial robots increase.
Because there is an increase in the production of robots, the number of people that are employed in a
factory would decrease as jobs such as manufacturing the goods by hand are removed through the
usage of robots. It is estimated that robots would take 800 million jobs in the next 13 years (2017-2030)
and a study by McKinsey global institute estimates that 400-800 million jobs will be fully automated.
This occurs because the usage of robots are taking away the employments of humans as robots are
more efficient and more precise than human and are faster at producing products. However, during this
time new jobs are created, and one of those jobs is robotics.

During the production of robots, traditional companies and subsistence economies will suffer from the
competition of corporal companies. Giant corporations will beat the prices of smaller and local
companies because giant companies have more tools that cut the cost of production. The usage of
robotics, creates more efficient, faster and precise products which ultimately contributes to a lower
price. This will then cause a majority of the consumers to purchase items from the giant corporations as
they are cheaper and sometimes better. This would then mean that sales of Giant Corporation would
increase as sales of smaller and local companies decrease.

Another social aspect would be the health effects on GMO’s. As diagram 13 shows, the amount of
GMO’s has increased from 2003-2017 and this caused through the rapid technological advancement on
the production of food. The consumption of GMO’s can then cause negative health effects. One of the
negative health effects would be the digestive system. The digestive system has organs that secrete
enzymes in order to break down the food, however, in the case of GMO’s they’re cellulose structure is
altered meaning that enzymes will have a harder time of breaking down the food. This can then cause
the small intestine to assimilate small amount of nutrients which will lead to less energy for the human.
If the amount of GMO that is consumed exceeds the amount of natural food, then this may change the
actual function of the organs in the body.
Diagram 13 (Acreage of genetically modified crops worldwide from 2003 to 2017 in million hectares),
Taken from: (https://www.statista.com/statistics/263292/acreage-of-genetically-modified-crops-
worldwide/)

“Diagram 12 (Estimated forecast supply of industrial robots worldwide 2013-2020), taken from:
(https://www.statista.com/chart/11397/rise-of-the-industrial-robots/)”

One of the solutions that I believe can reduce the effects of food consumerism would be to purchase
locally grown produce. Regarding the environmental effects, the consumption of locally grown produce
would reduce the amount of import and export that is needed as there is a smaller demand for
imported goods. Because there are less import and exports, less carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxide will produced meaning that there will be less greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. less
greenhouse gases will then lessen the effect of global warming as there is less carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere to trap the rays of sunlight. Less sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, will lessen the amount
of environmental issues like acid rain which then lessens the acidification of freshwater ( less organisms
will die, due to irregularity of pH). Locally grown produce also lessens the amount of energy needed to
sustain foreign crops and yield. When local food ingredients are produced, the usage of energy and
resources on them will be smaller compared to the energy needed to sustain foreign crops. This is
because; the crops are adapted towards the environment which means that less energy and resources
will be needed to sustain them.

Locally grown produce also ensures that local businesses will be able to survive and this will then be able
to reduce the dominance of giant corporations in food consumerism. A reduction of dominance for giant
corporations mean that local businesses will be able to increase their sales on products sold, which can
then be used to improve the production of the local product. Normally companies that produce locally
grown produce are companies that enforce ‘fair trade’, meaning that all of the employees in the
company receive the money that they work for. This can then improve the local GDP of a local
community as people are being paid for what they actual work for. An example would be an personal
experience that I have in Indonesia. In Indonesia farmers from the village come to people’s houses and
offer their daily and fresh harvest of the day. Once we pay them we know that the money will be given
to them, hence, the fair trade.

This solution however, does come with some cons. The cons of this solution are the fact that more
energy may be consumed during the actual production or harvesting of the food. Giant corporate
companies have derived plans that reduce costs of production of the food, therefore, meaning that their
way of producing food is more efficient. Therefore, meaning that more energy could be consumed.

A second con is the fact that giant corporate businesses implement GMO’s into their product. Though
the use of GMO is debatable on the effect it has on the human body, one part of GMO’s are clear and
that is that they require less energy. Buying from corporate companies will reduce the amount of energy
that you consume when you buy food as GMO’s can be genetically modified to grow faster. A faster
growth would mean that less time would be needed to sustain the crop which then lead to the crop
consuming less energy.

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