OUR FOOD: WHERE IT COMES FROM
By Anthony
This article has been inspired by the move “Food, Inc”
Normally we take for granted where our food comes from. We simply go and buy healthy food with hard earned money and eat it, right? That is not the case! People don’t care where their food comes from. They simply want fast food to eat. So they go through the “work, buy, eat” method, but also don’t check the ingredients or where it came from simply because they trust the food industry.
I am, like many people, a BIG fan of the hamburger, but I had no idea that it can be the reason of death by E.coli 057:H7. I would much rather have a real, grass-fed beef burger than have a burger that could kill me. I learned that 90% of American meat plants are controlled by FOUR companies. It is also more money to buy vegetables, than it is to buy junk food or in other words snack foods. It’s the same thing with veggies and fast foods, where the veggies cost more money than fast food.
Now E.coli has not received as much attention as it needs. There have been 21 E.coli outbreaks in 16 states linked to National Steak and Poultry meats in the last 20 years. However the FDA does not have the power to shut them down. Feedlot cows are raised ankle deep in their manure and fed corn which causes E.coli to spread quickly. If cows were fed grass for five days 80% of the E.coli would go away!!! The food companies tried to shut down a man who is feeding cows grass NOT CORN!!!
The farmer I mentioned does not feed his chickens corn, so they don’t get fatter faster. A microbiology lab even tested his chickens against chicken from the supermarket, and his were significantly cleaner. This happens because the meat industry feeds their chickens corn, give them antibiotics, keeps in the dark, and make it so the chickens cannot keep up with their growth process.
Where does our food come from? Well now that we know about the food I will tell you where it comes from. The answer is FACTORIES!!! Not farms but big assembly lines in factories. The cows are raised on huge, overcrowded lots, with no grass and unnaturally fed CORN!!! So, now that you have learned interesting facts about food I encourage you to help make a difference in the way our food is raised, butchered, and prepared.
Ways to make a change: plant a garden, buy food grown locally, go to farmers markets, cook a meal and eat it with your family, ask your burger if it has been fed corn {JUST KIDDING!!!} in other words, buy grass fed beef.
By Anthony 5th grade
2/10/10
