Imported food is having a bad impact on our health and our community. When you choose to buy local, you’re getting delicious food that is good for you, your family, local farmers and the local economy. Unfortunately, many people around the world are choosing to buy imported food, mainly because it’s cheaper and more convenient to buy. Sadly imported food is usually not as healthy as locally grown food, and is almost always lacking in nutrients. If we buy more locally grown food, people will be eating healthier food, conserving the environment, and helping the community.
Since the 1990’s there has been a steady increase of imported foods in the Canadian’s diet. Currently 30 percent of our diet is imported, including things such as fruits, nuts,
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For example, the average apple imported from other countries travels on average, 1300 to 1500 miles, over a span of 4-7 days(1). For the apple to be ripe by the time it arrives in grocery stores, farmers harvest them while they are still green, thus losing most of its nutritional value. That’s not even the worst of it, an apple may travel 4 to 7 days, but it can stay in a cold storage for up to a year! They are picked unripe, waxed (to make them appear shiny) then stored for 9 to 12 months. But before these apples are stored, they are sprayed with a chemical called 1-methylcylopropene (also known as 1-MCP). 1-MCP is a synthetic plant growth regulator which is …show more content…
The amount of fuel a certain food uses to be transported is called a “fuel mile” (3). A fuel mile will vary on where the product is being shipped to, as well as how it is being shipped. Food can be transported in three different ways; road transport, air transport, as well as rail and sea transport. About 90 percent of the world's food transport carbon emissions, are created by air and road transport (4). If you buy your food locally, it immensely reduces the amount of fuel it takes to transport this food, therefore, helping the
James E. Mcwilliams stated his aversion to the locavore movement in his essay “The Locavore Myth: Why Buying from Nearby Farmers Won’t Save the Planet”. The locavore movement is the concept of buying produce, meat, and other farm-grown food locally as opposed to having your vegetables or fruits shipped from across the world. This notion believes going local reduces harm to the environment by decreasing the miles food needs to travel before landing on your plate. From the title of his essay itself, the claim would seem obvious. The locavore movement does not essentially help save the environment through lessened food mileage. Don’t be easily swayed, in short. Mcwilliams presented several grounds and data for his justification on this issue.
First, the local sustainable food chain is healthy for people. In the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma as people stand around to buy chicken from Polyface, Pollan records some of the customers’ quotes. In the book it says, “ You’re not going to find fresher chickens anywhere. (Pollan, 184). ” This quote shows
I am used to living a very busy life style, so I never paid close attention to where my food was originating from. Usually when I look at my food it is more to find out its nutritional value rather than its origins. After reading Kelsey Timmerman’s “Where Am I Eating?”, it has opened my eyes to some of the horrors of the food industry. Regardless of what I have learned, changing my eating habits would be very challenging, and I do not believe it is entirely necessary. Yes, there are many negatives in the global food economy, but it is not totally corrupt as Timmerman suggests. I believe it would be very difficult to change because of the many misleading food labels, the United States has become unfamiliar with how to produce for the entirety
In “Called Home”, the first chapter of the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year in Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver presents her concerns about America's lack of food knowledge, sustainable practices, and food culture. Kingsolver introduces her argument for the benefits of adopting a local food culture by using statistics, witty anecdotal evidence, and logic to appeal to a wide casual reading audience. Her friendly tone and trenchant criticism of America's current food practices combine to deliver a convincing argument that a food culture would improve conditions concerning health and sustainability. I agree with Kingsolver that knowing the origin of food is an important and healthy benefit of developing a true food culture, but it is impractical to maintain that everyone is able to buy more expensive food. Kingsolver presents a compelling argument for developing a food culture, however this lifestyle change may not be practical or even possible for a poverty-level citizen. The following essay will summarize and respond to Kingsolver’s argument to demonstrate how “Called Home” is a model for novice social scientists.
Reason 1: the locally grown produce’s nutritional value is overall better than unfamiliar produce shipped from foreign countries
This constant income has proven to support our economy by more than just improving life quality. Canada’s three main exports also allow Canada to keep a more balanced budget. With an extensive amount of money being put into importing goods from other countries, exporting gives Canada a fighting chance against the terrible trag...
More and more health-conscious individuals are scrutinizing the source of the food their family consumes. However, even the most conscientious consumer is not fully aware of the exhaustive efforts and struggle to get a juicy, ripe strawberry or that plump tomato in the middle of winter, even in Florida. These foods are harvested and picked mostly by seasonal and migrant farm workers. Migrant workers hail, in large part, from Mexico and the Caribbean, and their families often travel with them. Migrant farm workers must endure challenging conditions so that Americans can have the beautiful selection of berries, tomatoes, and other fresh foods often found at places like a farmer’s market or a traditional super market. Seasonal and migrant farm workers suffer a variety of health problems as a result of their constant exposure to stress, the elements, and chemicals such as pesticides. They are paid minimal wages and are expected to work long hours of strenuous labor for pennies on the dollar per piece or per hour. The migrant families are expected to live in substandard quarters and transported to various work sites in unsafe transportation. The fresh fruits and vegetables consumers purchase with little thought reach supermarkets at a cost that is not reflected in the retail price. This cost is ultimately absorbed by farm workers in Florida and other areas throughout the country, who are among the poorest of American workers.
Although local food may be considered “healthier” it does not solve all of our food problems due to lack in quantity, economic depression, and time. People need to remember all of these factors when thinking of todays thriving country.
Michael Pollan and David Freedman are two reputable authors who have written about different types of food and why they are healthy or why they are damaging to our health. Michael Pollan wrote “Escape from the Western Diet” and David Freedman wrote “How Junk Food Can End Obesity”. Imagine Pollan’s idea of a perfect world. Everything is organic. McDonald’s is serving spinach smoothies and Walmart is supplying consumers with raw milk. The vast majority of food in this world consists of plants grown locally, because almost everyone is a farmer in order to keep up with supply and demand. How much does all this cost? What happened to all the food that is loved just because it tastes good?
In recent studies, it was discovered that most of the foods that Americans consumed are foods which had gone through so many processes and thereby losing most of its nutritional values. Unhealthy nutrients are also been added to foods as additive during production to either preserve flavor or enhance its taste and appearance. An individual cannot simply trust what he or she is consuming at a fast food restaurant or even a cheap prepared meal at a grocery store. Processed food or western diet needs to be replaced and totally taken out of the American life and diet; this will help the Americans to live a healthier life, and spend less on medical bills.
A positive result of the movement would be the return of health to the land. In Paul Robert’s book, he mentions the superior effects of the locavore movement. According to a UK-based study he used, “Such a shift would bring back diversity to the land… destroyed by chemical-intensive mono-cropping…” (Source F). As large corporation farmers plant only one crop repetitively with the aid of chemicals, the land used becomes unhealthy, and eventually sterile from the lack of nutrients. With the locavore movement, farmland can be saved as local farmers only sell to local buyers. These farmers will only have to plant what buyers need, and have the opportunity to plant diverse crops. These different crops naturally regenerate the land with different nutrients, keeping the environment more healthy. On the contrary, the locavore movement may harm the environment due to the likelihood of forming a large carbon footprint. In James McWilliam’s business article about the locavore movement, he gives the example of a Londoner wanting to buy local lamb instead of lamb from New Zealand. “...New Zealand lamb is raised on pastures with a small carbon footprint… English lamb is produced… with a big carbon footprint” (Source C). Even though food may come from far away, the process of producing the food may be better for the environment. Such as cattle, packaging and feeding them in a factory-farm may create more pollution and harm the environment. If the product is more naturally fed and packaged, pollution can be reduced and be more environmentally friendly. The environmental issues associated with the locavore movement are significant as they can both improve and hurt the environment. The more diverse, local crops grown can help keep the soil healthy, perhaps making people’s bodies more healthy as chemical use is slimmed or ignored. This could trigger a growth in society’s overall health. However, the
Americans should eliminate their regular consumption of animal products and processed foods. This type of diet leads to preventable and expensive health issues such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity and even death. Most Americans don’t realize that the majority of the food being advertised to them is literal garbage that’s infusing their bodies with toxins on a daily basis. As Americans, we take pride and joy in our food, given the fact that it’s so darn tasty. We find comfort in eating a cheeseburger with French fries and slurping down a 44-ounce cola. However, what we eat has a far more detrimental effect on our health than most of us are aware of. To some, making the switch to a raw food diet might seem to be taking a drastic measure.
Most people do not spend their days wondering where their next meal is going to come from, but as the economic situation gets worse and jobs get harder to find it is becoming an every occurring issue in the United States today. Not only will some of us have to worry about with what money will we buy our food, but now we will all start having to worry about where our food is coming from and is it safe for us to consume. We are moving toward a safer tomorrow every day by regulating certain parts of our food supply system. No matter how long it takes, it is clear that there is always opportunity for improvement in making our Nation healthier and safer.
In our fast pace society, we base everything on time and money. This need to save money and time has transformed the way we see food and purchase food. Food is an essential part of all cultures. It plays a role in every person’s life. The population has the power to choose what we eat and how the food industry is shaped. There are many important questions that we need to ask ourselves in order to keep the food industry in check. These questions are: How do we know our food is safe? What should we eat? How should food be distributed? What is good food? These are simple yet difficult questions.
Food has been a common source of necessity in our everyday lives as humans. It helps gives us nutrition and energy to live throughout our life. Over several decades, the development of making foods has evolved. They have changed from natural to processed foods in recent years. Nowadays natural ingredients are barely used in the making of foods like bread, cheese, or yogurt. The food industry today has replaced natural food making with inorganic ingredients. The cause of this switch is due to processed foods being easier, cheaper and faster to make. Artificial nutrition and processed foods have been proven to last longer in market shelves then natural foods. Also, due to artificial additives in processed foods they help satisfy consumers taste more than natural ingredients. The method of producing processed foods is common in today's food industry and helps make money faster and efficiently for companies. Examples of this can be found in all markets that distribute food. Even though processed foods may be easier and faster to make, they are nowhere near as healthy for consumers compared to natural foods. Natural foods are healthier, wholesome, and beneficial to the human body and planet then processed foods.