Food Assumptions: Everything the Food Industry Does Not Want Consumers to Know

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Recommended: Factors that influence food culture and habits

People often take in information without thinking about what it means or how valid it is. People also tend to consume food and beverages without thinking where it came from or how it was produced. The well-known saying, “do not believe everything you see and hear” is something more people should consider more often when thinking about the production and consumption of food in America. The American public is misinformed on many topics in the food industry. This can be compared to the message that the book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen, delivers about how the public is deceived in regards to history. One specific food lie is how the Corn Refiners Association wants the public to believe that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is the same as sugar and is perfectly healthy for consumption. As some research suggests, this is a faulty food assumption.

Patriotic textbooks “leave out anything that might reflect badly upon [them]” (Loewen 5). Loewen argues that “if textbooks allowed for controversy, they could show students which claims rest on strong evidence, which on softer ground” (Loewen 39). The textbooks want to be right for the sake of more simplistic information retention for students. Loewen says this was is “easier” (Loewen 41). This ideology is the same for the food industry. They want to be right for the sake of making a profit while maintaining calm and happy customers. This is what is easier for them. If the consumers saw products with a warning or cautionary label, they might think twice about purchasing that product and trusting that company. As for HFCS, why would the makers want to reveal that “when higher percentages of fructose are consumed, the liver becomes overworked and produces excess levels of uric ...

... middle of paper ...

... a Eurocentric view that ignores imperfections and covers up less than savory truths. Both of these instances show how the public is deceived about food and history. It takes a spark of curiosity, passion, and enlightenment to dig down into the depths of the truth. It is not an easy thing to do, but something more Americans could benefit from in their daily lives if they questioned more of what appeared to be true.

Works Cited

Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. Print.

Parker, Hilary. "A Sweet Problem: Princeton Researchers Find That High-fructose Corn Syrup

Prompts Considerably More Weight Gain." News at Princeton University. Princeton

University, 22 Mar. 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2011.

Porter, Mary. "High Fructose Corn Syrup: Really the Same as Sugar?" FortHuntPatch. Patch

Network, 7 Nov. 2011. Web. 16 Nov. 2011.

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