HW 11 - Final Food Project 1 Academic research

Précis: To summarize the Wall Street Journal article "Gillibrand Not Sweet On Sugary Drinks Plan" Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is unsure if she yet supports Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson proposal to ban the purchasing of soda with food stamps. The proposal is meant to create better eating habits of New Yorkers, and is attempting to lower the cities obesity rate. By limiting which drinks can be bought with food stamps it directly affects the behavior of the adult rather than the child. The rule would apply to beverages containing more than 10 calories per 8 ounces, with an exception for fruit juices without added sugar and would be tested for two years.

View point one: Support of the proposal

By restricting that sugary drinks be bought with food stamps essentially the consumption of soda and other unhealthy sugary drinks would decrease amongst the lower income class in New York City. New Yorkers with the lowest income were most likely to consume one or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day, putting them at a greater risk of obesity and diabetes. “The obesity epidemic is also taking a toll on children. In New York City, close to 40 percent of public school students in kindergarten through 8th grade are overweight or obese. The figure is 46 percent for Hispanic students and 40 percent for black students.” The idea is that if there is no longer soda available in lower income households that children and adults won’t have the urge or capability to drink it. “The proposal for this initiative will not affect the total benefits received, but by cutting out sugary drinks it would increase the amount of money available for more nutritious foods and beverages.” This may work or will the excess money be spent on other types of sugary/high calorie foods? Health care costs caused by poor diet are paid by the city and taxpayers so this I an attempt to eliminate two problems with one proposal.

View point two: Disagree with the proposal

Although the new rule may change eating habits it’s not going to create long term values. Instead of completely removing sugary drinks from people who have lower income diets, there should be better funding for better nutritional education, AND more education about the origin of cheaper food (high calorie food) and how it is produced. Having an informed population is the only way to maintain a long term pattern of healthy eating. If you are trying to get a drug user off drugs you can just remove the drug from their life for two years without educating them about the consequences of using that drug. They won’t have the willingness to stay off that drug once the two years is over, because of their lack of knowledge. Senator Gillibrand said: "I think giving parents and families the tools they need to make the right choices is a better approach."

sources:

wall street journal article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704127904575544250017855716.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Press release:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/hra/downloads/pdf/Food_Stamps_Press_Release.pdf

HW 11 - Final Food Project 2

Thesis: Many of the dominant social practices in our society - practices that define a "normal" life - on further investigation turn out to involve nightmares and industrial atrocities. 

Argument: The lack questioning by the public of the origin and production of food creates an ignorant society. When reality is exposed we discover that we have been secluded from how the factory farm animals and workers are being treated.

Supporting claim 1: Factory farms are inhumane and don’t value the lives of the livestock.

Evidence1- Factory farms main concern is rate of production (From Fast food nation)

Evidence2-the safety and well being of the animals gets neglected (http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/campaigns/factory_farming/) (http://www.hfa.org/hot_topic/wash_post.html)

Evidence3-animals are given antibiotics and other drugs in order to change the size/growth of the animal, to make sure it can’t fight back and to keep it from getting diseases caused by their living conditions ( http://www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cruelty/farm-animal-cruelty/what-is-a-factory-farm.html)

Supporting claim 2: The use of factory farming causes food borne illnesses such as salmonella and E. coli O157:H7. These are attempted to be reduced by the addition of chemicals.

Evidence1- bacteria and pathogens are exposed and transmitted onto the animals flesh during slaughter, the intestines of the animals break and release all the animal manure. (Fast Food Nation)

Evidence2-these forms of bacteria and pathogens spread all over the meat and can cause food borne illnesses like salmonella and E. coli O157:H7. (http://www.foodborneillness.org/what-we-do/advocating-for-laws/128-kevins-law.html)

Evidence3- chemicals such as ammonia are used to kill possible pathogens that will cause food borne illnesses. (Food inc.)

Supporting claim 3: Those who work in the meat packing industry are treated as well as the animals.

Evidence1- exploitation of immigrant workers (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/opinion/06iht-edmeat.htm?_r=1)

Evidence2- lack of safety in the slaughter houses (http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/processing/)

(http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/27191/OSHA-cites-Illinois-company)

(Fast Food Nation)

Evidence3- corruption in government that makes it almost impossible for helpful reforms (http://www.naturalnews.com/000908.html) (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/business/25tomatoes.html?ref=business&pagewanted=all)

HW 10 - Food, Inc. Response

Précis: Food Inc. investigated the food industry’s harmful effects on our health and environment. The director, Robert Kenner focused on the discrimination and repression of men and women who are working for the meatpacking and fast food industries as well as the farmers. The movie also highlighted the need of reform in industry due to its widespread monopolies, problematic interpretations of laws and subsidies. There was also large focus on the political corruption between the government officials and the fast food executives.

The movie was able to offer a better sense of tone and emotion then Fast Food Nation provided. A good example of this is during the movie when Kevin’s mother was discussing the death of her son, and they had the mini montage, although I don’t think it was exactly necessary it definitely made me feel heartbroken and helpless that the child was so innocent and was killed by something that could have been avoided. I don’t think that Fast Food Nation did a very good job of making the reader feel helpless and regretful for not taking action with in the food industry sooner. But Fast Food Nation was better able to convey social concepts such as the fallacy of composition, the tactics used by the fast food industries to make more of a profit and the idea that if the consumers demand healthier food or better safety standards the industries will provide them with their desires.

I think it’s important for the public to be informed little by little about where their food really comes from and who is producing it and what will happen to society, the environment, Americans health, and the economy if things don’t change. Its important that all this information isn’t thrown at the public because it will surely be way to overwhelming and it will create fear, instead more campaigns should be constructed to have posters on the subway and at bus stops that give facts about how what we (as a country) eats is harmful. It’s going to be difficult because the first steps will require essentially giving up fast food, non-organic meats and produce in order to send the message to the industries. But once the public’s needs are heard I believe things will change. This summer McDonalds released a smoothie promotion which contains on average about 330 calories which is very similar to the calorie count of the high class Jamba Juice. I feel awakened to now know how my food affects so many other people I am only going to buy organic meats, and I plan on telling my friends the effect that their hamburger has on not only them selves but also the rest of the country.

fast food nation hw 7d

Chapter 9

Précis: Due to industrialization and the centralized system of food processing, feedlots, slaughter houses, and meat grinders have caused more food borne diseases which are occurring more today than ever before and the long term aliments are more serious then centuries ago. In 1997 there was a mass recall of hamburgers due to the E. coli 0157:H7 virus. 35 million pounds were recalled but by the time the recall was issued 25million pounds had already been consumed. E. coli 0157:H7 has mostly affected children because children are the number one consumer of hamburgers, being sickened by 0157:H7 results in diarrhea, cramps, fever, vomiting and possible death. Feed lots allow for the growth and survival of the pathogen due to the improper precautions and care of the animals. Slaughterhouses also cause the pathogen to spread more easily if the if E. coli infected intestines brake open onto the animal then anything the worker or that animal touches gets infected with the pathogen. The assembly line definitely benefits the transmission of the pathogen. In the past the ground beef was local so if it was contaminated it would only infect those in a small radius of the origin, but today not only is it difficult to find the origin but meat can be coming from hundreds of miles away. The mass production and distribution of contaminated meat is irreversible, in fact one infected cow can contaminate 32,000 pounds of beef.  Meat factories constantly deny that they are responsible for any existing problems when it comes to food borne illness. The slaughter houses were actually given the responsibility to inspect their own meats, but this is hardly done due to the amount of will power amongst managers, the effects of food poisoning don’t affect the corporations in a large enough scale to force the managers to keep cleanliness. The industries companies are in denial about food issues, the process to make everything regulation would only take 6 months and raise prices a penny per pound of meat, but they lack the determination. When an outbreak occurs the USDA doesn’t give specific information to the public, nor does the meat packing industry. The focus for eliminating the growth of pathogens and bacteria has been to destroy them after they have already infected the animal and cuts of meat, this allows the industry to ignore the fundamental problems. But it would be more efficient to solve the problem at the roots by changing the way the animals are fed, raised, stored, and killed. The USDA who is assumed to be protecting the public is actually contributing to the food borne illnesses by purchasing the most contaminated meats for the school lunch program. As if the slaughter house isn’t enough reason to worry about what’s in or on your, hamburger, bacon or chicken nuggets the staff preparing it behind the counter has extremely poor hygiene. Happy eating.

Gems: The numerous plans that are created have no effect if the managers of the slaughterhouses don’t take them and used them in their factories. It’s a waste of resources if there is no enforcement in meat packing industry. All of the participants in the meat packing industry are constantly being bought out, whether if it’s faster production or paying off politicians.

Thoughts: I think votes should be taken from the public and the public should be allowed to decide whether they are willing to sacrifice a few dollars to ensure they won’t eat possibly lethal meat. I think that the FDA needs to play a bigger role in the meat packing industry maybe there should even be a separate organization for just meat packing, employee safety, and the treatment of the animals. I am not sure if it would ease my mind to know that the animal I was eating had a happy life or not, I think a major issue is I don’t think about the animal’s life, I am not sure if I even see it as having been alive.

chapter 10

Précis: Fast food chains have moved overseas to a ton of other countries. In order to reduce fears of American imperialism the companies attempt to buy as much food as possible from the country they operate out of. Children are the target market in all the countries that fast food companies operate in.  Many children in other countries look to the American culture as an example of what they should value, eat, listen to, and wear. But America has become the most obese nation in the world; we have also broken the record for the speed at which it took. Fast food portions are constantly being super sized doubling or tripling the grams of fat and past promotions to introduce healthy dishes have failed. Obesity is causing 280,000 deaths a year, and annual health care costs are increasing as well as lose weight quick schemes. In many foreign countries American fast food restaurants have been looted, attacked, burnt down and destroyed by rioters and people who disagreed with the McDonalds principles. In 1990 McDonalds sued Greenpeace volunteers for distribution leaflets that contained information that, if believed by the public, would tarnish the McDonalds name. The Greenpeace volunteers were sued for 40,000 Euros but McDonalds dropped the charges hoping to ease bad publicity.

Gems: ”The annual heath care costs in the United States stemming from obesity now approach $240 billion; on top of that Americans spend more than $33 billion on various weight loss schemes and diet products.” The people of the United States are becoming more and more obese, and instead of fixing their eating habits or changing their children’s eating habits they are ignoring the roots of the issue and are attempting to fix it with diets or drugs or weight loss meals, all these are expensive and unlikely to make one healthier. It’s the same approach that the slaughterhouses use when it comes to sanitizing their meats. Instead of feeding the cattle grass while they are growing and keeping them sanitary the industry ignores that issue and waits till the meat is already contaminated to add ammonia and other chemicals onto the meat.

Thoughts: The whole section about Las Vegas doesn’t really connect for me. I understand that he is talking about illusions and false joy, and how the convention symbolizes how the victors get to celebrate and have the last laugh but I don’t understand what the purpose of talking about all that was. Maybe he’s saying that they hold fast food conferences with famous powerful managers but don’t get anything done they are just celebratory meetings for how successful the fast food industry is?

Epilogue

Précis: Conway’s Red Top and In-and-Out are perfect examples of eating fast food that hasn’t caused others as much pain. The employees are long time and often the owner’s family, they are educated and the meats are at a lower rise for containing pathogens. If fast food advertising targeted to children were banned then the obesity rate would decrease, because kids would not be as exposed to it. It is so difficult to regulate the United States food safety system because it is managed by twelve different government organizations; each organization has different jurisdictions so it is very complicated to have each group work together to solve the food safety issues. The organizations need to merge and the fines and punishments for breaking food safety and labor laws need to be harsher. If the public choose to boycott a product of the fast food industry the company would change it to fit the public’s needs.

Gems: “the fast food chains insist that the suppliers follow strict specifications regarding the sugar content, fat content, shape, size taste and texture of their products. The chains could just as easily enforce a strict code of conduct governing the treatment of workers, ranchers and farmers” (268)

Thoughts: Food served in school cafeterias should be healthier then what is sold at fast food restaurants. Lower income children are typically eating school lunch the fact that the meat and meals aren’t as healthy as fast food industries automatically targets children of less affluent households to be obese or unhealthy, against their will. Also its interesting that the whole book basically explains that the monopolization of the fast food and meat packing and farming industry has caused the problems but then its says that the problems could be solved better if the government system designed to regulate the industries were grouped together.

Fast food nation hw 7c

Chapter 7

Précis: In Greenely, Colorado the meat packing industry is not benefiting the community. The air smells of rotting slaughterhouse waste, and the low paying jobs result in violent, drugged up neighborhoods. ConAgra, the company who runs the largest meat packing complex in the nation takes as many short cuts as needed to create large amounts of hefty cattle as quick as possible. The company is completely unconscious of how their get rich quick system is effecting the environment around them. In 1906 The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was published, in his book the made accusations that meat processing plants housed many unsafe and unsanitary conditions for the workers, this raised public awareness. In 1960 the Iowa Beef Packers opened they used the same speedy principle as McDonalds. Throughout the slaughter house there were assembly lines, they only had to teach each person one skill, therefore saving time and money. The next “improvement” to the industry was to move the slaughterhouses in rural areas closer to the feedlots, and further away from any labor unions that would question the methods of employment. Following the change in location, meat grinders were introduced to the slaughter houses this drove small processors and wholesalers out of the business, transforming the meat industry. Over the past two decades ConAgra has not kept their hands clean, they have paid millions of dollars in fines for attempting to cheat ranchers out of profits. More and more meat packers are immigrants from regions such as Mexico and Central America; this increases the employee turnover rate and decreases the amount of pay the company gives to each employee. The placement of meat packing factories greatly affects the future outcome of the neighborhood in which they are placed. And the company has no idea.

Gems/thoughts: The idea that the meatpacking companies were wise enough to move the slaughterhouses to more beneficial locations. “In addition to creating a mass production system that employed a de-skilled workforce, IBP put its new slaughterhouses in rural areas close to the feedlots—and far away from the urban strongholds of the nation’s labor unions” (154) I think this is an important concept and the same idea can be applied to fast food restaurants. I am sure that fast food companies are moving their franchises closer to school, and in neighborhoods of lesser income, as well as many other strategic areas.

Chapter 8

Précis: In the large chilly room there is nothing that would seem unusually to the typical American, but as the tour continues down the assembly line (which very much resembles the potato factory) there is a change in mood. There is meat hanging from hooks and young Latino women cutting slabs off at the meat comes towards them. The kill floor quite different here its hot and humid and the workers are holding saws and are cutting cattle in half and there are cows hung by there hooves swinging around in the air. There are men pulling the insides out of cows, and the blood on the floor is ankle deep. At the start of the assembly line cows are getting stunted, then the necks get cut and gallons of blood fall all over the cutter. The amount of blood on the floor makes it very easy for a worker to slip and fall onto the concrete floor resting beneath the blood. Every year approximately 40,000 workers suffer an injury or illness that requires more then just first aid. Meat packing is now the most dangerous job in the United States. Pressure is put on floor managers and workers to slaughter and process as much cattle as they can in a given day, so many injuries are not reported. Even during after hours in the slaughter house there are numerous injuries amongst the clean crew workers. The Occupational Safety and Health Administrations role in the meat packing industry has been declining since the 1980’s, the number of injuries that have been reported has decreased but that’s no reason to think that the number of injuries have decreased.

Gems: There is a lot of corruption in the meat packing industry. And there is a lot about the hamburger process that most Americans don’t know about.

Thoughts: I don’t know if the meat packing industry was further exposed that people would collectively take action and boycott meats from specific places or if they would choose to ignore it further. I am also curious how much extra money it costs to humanly raise and slaughter cattle, as well as how much extra resources would have to go into the meat packing industry to make sure that the employees are safer and healthier. 

HW 9 - Freakonomics Response

The freakenomics authors address correlation vs. causation by subtly differentiating the two. An example of this in the movie was the cause for why crime rates decreased in the 90s when they were expected to rise. Many politicians and citizens assumed that effective governing, longer prison sentences, increased police officers, a break in the crack epidemic and harsher punishments for minor offences, all contributed as CAUES to the crime drop.  Freakenomics argues that the dominant discourse for why the crime dropped is actually correlated with the crime drop but not completely caused by it. The movie attempts to prove that the development of abortion rights led to fewer unwanted children being born. Parents who were unprepared to raise a child were no longer forced to, thus eliminating a potential unstable environment with little parental support, the child who may have become a criminal was never born. This is the meaning of correlation and causation that I received from the movie; I suppose that some correlation is causation. That was shown in the movie when the directors claimed that although the longer prison sentences, higher police volumes and the reduction of crack wave weren’t the foremost cause of the crime plunge they did make up 65% of the possible reasons for the crime reduction. In this case the correlation is also PART of the causation.

The directors mostly rely on statistics to convey their evidence. Statistics are an innovative tool because it’s releasing the evidence in the most direct and simple way possible. Often time’s statistics are automatically assumed to be true but frequently the evidence used to create the statistics is never released, which can make the statistics less believable.

I disagree that “Freakonomics serves as an inspiration and good example to our attempt to explore the "hidden-in-plain-sight" weirdness of dominant social practices.” Through out the movie the directors were questioning social principles, such as what incentives construct a slacker/cheater or which incentives create a hardworking/honest person. The movie examined several examples of how incentives work and if they will actually create the presumed result. The sumo wrestlers with a win record of 7 (wins) had incentive to cheat if they were matching a wrestler who had a record of 5 (wins). If the opponent with the lower record won then he was able to move up and he must return the “favor” the next time the two matched again. In both the examples of paying students to achieve higher grades and the incentives behind cheating they definitely examined the reasoning behind incentives and explored the practices but DID NOT explain how they were weird or different from other practices. The movie didn’t critique the behaviors the directors studied they just talked about the patterns they observed.

HW 7b Fast Food Nation

Chapter 4
Young people, like Dave Feamster, who have used up all their possibilities, are often times owners of fast food restaurants. Franchising schemes are a win-win situation for both the franchisee and the franchisor if the opportunity is manipulated correctly. In today’s economy it’s not worth the money, energy or resources to attempt to became a successful franchisee of a large organization. For franchisee owners it is crucial that stores of the same company don't open in a close vicinity of each other. The demand for the product that the store is selling decreases due to the amount of supply in such a condensed area. the government backed loans given to fast food "entrepreneurs" money to be successful which means that the public is supporting the fast food industry whether they want to or not. Not all fast food franchisees are horrible people; those like Dave Feamster are just trying to make a living. He is kind to his employees, takes them to events and helps pay for their college education. there are many franchise owners whose goals is to keep making money and there are others whose goal is to just make enough money to live and then give back to their community or their employees. Those who are constantly attempting to achieve conventional goals will never be fulfilled because the amount of money one can aim to make is infinite, therefore their goal will never be accomplished. I think it’s great how the author doesn't attack Dave Feamster or portray him as a horrible person. But rather associates him with less superficial things like having a family, starting a local hockey team and giving money for his employees who are in college.

Chapter 5
J.R. Slimplot was an ordinary boy who took chances and made investments which benefited him. He became successful within the potato business he had his hands on machines that were able to quickly clean, slice, flash cook and flash freeze potatoes. These new techniques for preparing potatoes made J.R Slimplot a multibillionaire, selling the inventions (and potatoes) to major fast food industries. Despite his wealth he has stayed loyal to the potato industry and the fast food business. Currently the fast food industry is making the most money off of the French fry business. The farmers and manufactures make hardly any profit compared to McDonalds. There is an organization called The Potato Growers of Idaho which is aimed at helping famers make logical contracts with processors. All around Idaho farmers are falling into the fallacy of composition. This is the idea that if a new piece of machinery makes one farm more profit that it would also make everyone else’s farm more profit. Fast food is so processed that all the natural flavors are cooked, and frozen out of the potatoes, the French fries would have no taste if it weren’t for the “natural flavor” which is added during the manufacturing process.

HW 8- Growing Our Own Food

I didn't mind growing my own food I would have rather had a different veggie, other than radishes. Its pretty simple to do, but I had to keep up with the watering and draining. On some days I forgot but if I had set it up as more of a routine then it would be more likely that they would have grown more or looked healthier. This assignment made me realize that it must be incredibly difficult to run a farm. I know that if I grew crops and harvested for a living I would be a lot more attached to my food and would put my produce on the market at a high price. The process of growing the sprouts was a little magical, it was surprising to see how much they grown in such a short little time, without much effort. I wouldn't say it was a sacred experience because I didn't value the sprouts at a high level, possibly if I was growing something more time consuming or laboring I would have considered the product of my efforts to be sacred.