Cover Letter for Annotated Bibliography Dear Group, This assignment was a bit time consuming, but I found

it to be very useful in determining my inquiry topic. I am interested in food and I feel that doing research on the food we eat and the regulations in the processed food industry will help me to better understand what it means to be healthy. I believe that innovations in how food is processed and manufactured has changed our sense of taste and what we believe is good to eat. I believe that the research and the MLA formatting was the most challenging, because the MLA format is detailed and it is easy to miss items. In this type of research, you must make sure that you find reliable and credible sources. As a whole, I did not find this assignment difficult, but I felt that the reading was a bit exhausting at times. The summaries were put in my own words to the best of my ability, and I feel that I picked our the main points of the articles and described them very well. I summarized my sources and evaluated their credibility, which helped my writing to be fairly organized. I feel that my sources are thorough and I feel that I included the detail that was relevant to the main points. I believe that my best annotation is the lengthiest one because it is the most in depth, and seemed to be the most detailed of my sources. I also have a better understanding of MLA formatting due to this assignment. Sincerely, Matthew Piercy

Matthew Piercy Ms. Ingram English 1103 18 September 2012 Annotated Bibliography Luning P.A., et al. "Food Safety Performance Indicators To Benchmark Food Safety Output Of Food Safety Management Systems." International Journal Of Food Microbiology 141.Supplement (n.d.): S180-S187. ScienceDirect. Web. 18 Sept. 2012. Food safety and the food safety management system go hand in hand with food safety performance. General laws lay out the basics for food safety and the responsibility that the industry has to the consumer. There are many food safety management systems, but the question remains as to how successful/efficient they really are. One way to tell is the MAS principle, which is the microbiological assessment scheme. This can help determine the safety of food by microbiological testing. Food safety must be determined both internally and externally by performance indicators related to microbiological testing. In relation to food safety, hygiene is also tested with the animals and the employees in/near the animal factories. Some of these assessments include assessments measuring for E coli and staph aureus. The E coli assessments are more directly related to the animals, and the staph aureus tests and related to the hygiene of the workers. Poultry, dairy, beef, pork, and lamb are just a few of the things that are subject to food safety testing. Scores for microbiological food safety are derived from certain statistics and measured results, thus illustrating their microbiological performance. This source seemed to be useful as it was very in depth with the microbiological performance assessment. This is a complicated assessment scheme, as it was difficult to understand at times. I believe that this source would be extremely useful for someone who was doing higher level research on food safety and their health. This source was very credible as the information came from a journal about food microbiology. The academic conversation with the author is very apparent, and it helps the reader to be more thorough in the examination/reading of the document. Stuart, Diana. "The Illusion Of Control: Industrialized Agriculture, Nature, And Food Safety." Agriculture & Human Values 25.2 (2008): 177-181. Environment Complete. Web. 18 Sept. 2012.

One of the main topics in industrialized agriculture is control. One of the foremost roles in agriculture is nature, which is constantly changing. In nature, there are many risks involved that sometimes throw people in the industries a curve. This said, as much as control is emphasized in industrial agriculture, nature produces and unknown that is out of the hands of the producer and the consumer. This said, control is also key to the consumer. The consumer must be confident and have a certain level of confidence in the safety of the food/product they are buying. Most of the growers must follow a strict set of standards for their crops, and if these standards are not met then their crops cannot be sold. This said, the 2006 E coli outbreak in California stemmed from a centralized area where over 70% of Americas leafy greens are produced. It was later concluded that cows and pigs were close to the site where the spinach was grown, and the greens were contaminated by the E coli bacteria. Also, in the Taco Bell lettuce contamination outbreak, the consumers trust was breached and the belief of attainable control was lost yet again. With all of the uncertainties in nature and industrial agriculture, there is no way that total control can be attained and the system be deemed foolproof. There will always be food borne illness and disease, but the sources from which are food comes from must be trusted and take precautionary measures. As a consumer, I believe that people must to their part in the research aspect of what they are eating. Ultimately, I also believe that control is an illusion, though we must believe that we are in control of what we eat in order to maintain a sense of sanity and well-being. I believe that this source was very useful and credible, because it helped to outline the illusion of control and the effect that it has on industrialized agriculture as well as the psychology of the consumer. This source is a credible web resource with many specific references in this article. Once again, this source lead me to other sources that engaged in academic conversation as well. Trexler, Nathan M. "Market" Regulation: Confronting Industrial Agriculture's Food Safety Failures." Widener Law Review 17.1 (2011): 311-345. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Sept. 2012. Food safety has been a constant concern since the beginning of time and especially during the last century of our countrys history. Over the past century, food safety regulations have went hand in hand with changes to the food safety system. For example, The Jungle outlined corruption in the meat-packing industry and brought about reform in the early 1900s. This goes hand-in-hand with the Pure Food and Drug Act, the Meat Inspection Act, and Theodore Roosevelts trust busting during this time period. Federal agencies must work together with regulatory agencies/committees in order to promote and reform food safety laws. Precautionary principles must be activated in order to maintain a food supply that is deemed safe and healthy for the public. Over the years, many different agencies have worked together to improve food safety, and even harm it in ways that were unknown at the time. Some of these agencies include the USDA, the CDC, and the FDA. In todays world the process in which food is made is streamlined to say the least, as certain traits are picked out in animals and animals are fed in ways so that the animals grow to certain weights in certain periods of time. One travesty in food processing and industrial agriculture are the animal factories that producing meat for reasonable prices. However, there is a great health cost associated with reasonable price. Many of the animals in these factories are exposed to disease and other terrible conditions due to the

number of animals in one place. Also, many of the animals are mixed in from places all over the world, which increases the risk for disease. Because of this, E coli and salmonella are widespread in animals that come from these animal factories. There are three things that can be incorporated to help the consumer and safeguard against disease from food borne illness. These three ways directly relate to government and private agencies, and are outlined as follows: prioritize prevention, strengthen surveillance, and improve response and recovery. This said, laws must be enacted and inspection must be kept tight to help prevent disease in animals. Also, when disease begins to spread and foods must be recalled, there needs to be a quicker response and safer ways to recover. When people are hospitalized due to food borne illnesses, it damages the consumers confidence in the food industry/industrial agriculture. To do this funding must be granted and the government must work hand in hand with the food industry. For this to happen, communication must improve and the current barriers between the government and the industry must be avoided. Even with the regulations in place today, many inspection plants have been busted for their practices and penalized because of it. In todays world, the processing and the production of our food is being more closely monitored to insure safer food industry practices and maintain the health of the consumer. This source was extremely useful as it was very detailed and vividly explained a lot of history and facts in relation to food safety. This source seems to use academic conversation and the credibility is definitely there. Within the document, the author also cites many sources, each with academic credibility and useful information. A great source such as this will lead you on to many different paths. "Industrial Agriculture: Features and Policy." Union of Concerned Scientists. N.p., 17 May 2007. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/science_and_impacts/impacts_industrial_ag riculture/industrial-agriculture-features.html. Industrial agriculture views its industry in three ways: input, output, and yield. This said, the industry has farms which are considered factories, which produce and output of beef, pork, poultry, etc. The yield is about producing this agriculture as cheap as possible and maximizing profits, just like a business is supposed to do. This said, crop variety is decreasing and in some cases harmful chemicals inputs are being used to increase output and profit yields. Most of the marketing schemes are geared toward delicious food, and do not talk about the underlying dangers of some of the chemicals in the food we eat daily. Research and technology have greatly influenced the industrial agriculture industry and allow farmer to use more and more dangerous chemicals to produce yield.

"Industrial Agriculture." PAN North America. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. <http://www.panna.org/issues/food-agriculture/industrial-agriculture>. It is widely believed by many that industrial agriculture cannot be sustained for the longterm future. Costs are controlled by manual labor and machines that do the work to help produce the crop yield. In todays world, we do not know how to farm like our ancestors once did. In this day and age, we simply put petro-chemicals on crops and speed up the process of growing animals to keep with the production requirements. This said, there are many costs in relationship to chemical dependent farming. The soil is depleted of its nutrients and contaminated water in some areas adversely affects the water quality. Also, biodiversity is collapsing and the food system can be linked to the constant climate change. It is said that 33.3% of todays global greenhouse gases are linked to the current food system. Lastly, farmers and their families are exposed to pesticides and human health is at risk with this type of farming. Industrial agriculture continues to deplete our environment from the natural resources that we need. "The Seven Deadly Myths of Industrial Agriculutre: Myth One." AlterNet. Foundation for Deep Ecology, n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. http://www.alternet.org/story/13900/the_seven_deadly_myths_of_industrial_agriculture %3A_myth_one. Industrial agriculture has the potential to be hazardous and devastating to our environments land, air, and natural resources. It is also called a fatal harvest because this type of industrial farming has led to hunger across the world due to corporate business. Industrial agriculture increases the cost of farming, so the hungry people across the world are less likely to be fed. Food dependence is said to be the cause of hunger, as many people do not believe that food is scarce. Rather, it is a land/money issue in relation to growing the food. This said, many of the corporate business executives are in cahoots with government officials and policy makers, so the media and government always sheds industrial agriculture in a positive light. Also, farming policies and tax breaks are introduced to these companies through their acquaintances in government. Only a few companies have control of this industry, and the dominate the big business. Also, only a portion of the food grown in the United States stays here, as much of it is exported for greater profits, which lead to increased food prices in the United States because the quantity decreases as crops are exported worldwide. As stated in this article, in order for hunger problems to be solved, food independence must be reintroduced.