Kraft Mac & Cheese Thesis

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Inaccessible Ingredients
Living in the first world, food is all around us, it is not only plentiful but also relatively inexpensive depending on the product. A lot of times we take our diet for granted, and because of this, we do not always realize what it takes to actually produce the food we are eating, or what is actually in it. Chances are, if you are like me, you go to the kitchen when you are hungry and whip up some macaroni and cheese then wash it down with a nice refreshing soda, or something similar, but do you really know what it is you just consumed? If the answer to the question is no, then you are like 76% of Americans who take into consideration the price of the product over the knowledge of what is actually in it (SWNS). Over …show more content…

In the span of a day I consumed Tilapia, Idahoan Instant Mashed Potatoes, milk, butter, and of course some delicious Kraft Mac & Cheese with a budget of less than $10. After recording all 51 of the ingredients in these items, in what I thought was going to be around 20, I then set out on the journey of finding what these ingredients were, where they came from, and how they were made. When doing this project, I came to realize the fresh unprocessed food I was consuming, such as the milk and Tilapia, was extremely easy to identify. On the back of the package of my Tilapia it labled one ingredient, the fish itself, as well as where it was from and how it was produced. I learned it was farmed raised in China before I picked it up at the grocery store in Iowa. The milk was just as easy to research as the Tilapia, and thanks to the code on the milk jug itself, I was able to find out by a quick search on the web that my gallon of milk was farm raised locally in Dubuque, Iowa (“Where is My Milk from?”). The processed food that I usually consume, due to a high quantity compared to the price, was very difficult to find information on the ingredients inside. The instant potatoes, mac, and butter all contained the majority of the ingredients on my data sheet. Most of these ingredients are not only difficult to pronounce, but also difficult to find information about. Due to the complexity …show more content…

After calling Lora Bar in class, and Kraft myself, these companies were not able to say where their ingredients were derived from. How is the consumer supposed to know this information, if the company itself does not know? Some companies may do this deliberately because they know much of their food is filled with chemicals, that are supposedly safe in low dosage according to the FDA. For example, a chemical known as phthalates found in various now banned toys for infants decades ago are still present in many of the foods we eat today. Phthalates were not listed on the box of my Kraft Mac & Cheese I ate for my data, but it is still known to be in it due to this chemical seeping in through the packaging that is used. Other cheese products, many that are processed, are known to have these chemicals as well. While this is deemed as safe in low dosage, research has indicated that this chemical can affect hormones resulting in cognitive impairments as well as birth defects (Rabin). Other ingredients in many of the foods we eat, that is also in my data, are also not healthy in large consumption. Common food items are loaded with ingredients such as corn syrup, sodium, and sugar which results in obesity problems. With an alarming increase in obesity, there has been an increase in heart disease and diabetes (Barclay

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