Arenas 1

Jesse Arenas

Osman

English 3P / Period 0

30 April, 2019

The Inadequacies of Food Policies

As much as 32% of people who earn less than 130% of the federal poverty line ate fast

food daily as reported by vox.com. In “When a Crop Becomes King,” it claims that due to

certain commodity crops such as corn and sugarcane, junk food is substantially cheaper, which

leads to the uprising of crops like the aforementioned corn. While “Big Agriculture is the Only

Option to Stop the World Going Hungry” claims that if the healthy food industry were to be

endorsed, local residents would not have to rely on the importations of food from other cities,

states, or even countries. The documentary “Food, Inc.” depicts the atrocities committed within

farms and slaughterhouses as well as the sheer amount of preservatives that go into foods. In

order to accomodate to low-income families, policy makers must reform the way the food

industry produces food and the overall cost of the production itself by finding alternatives to

subsidy programs.

Due to the production cost (and market price) of junk food being substantially cheaper

than healthy food, this leads to a significantly larger output of junk food, which in turn, leads to

obesity and diabetes among the citizens of America. In an argument made by UCSUSA.org,

they state: “Current U.S. food policy is a major contributor to the failures of our food system -

making junk food cheaper, healthy food more expensive, and sustainable farming more
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difficult.” If sustainable farming is proven to be more difficult as a result of U.S. food policy,

big agriculture would leave no room for more salubrious farms. Big agriculture could eventually

leave reform to a more humane process, but that is only if it were to be dismantled. In the article

“Big Agriculture,” it claims: “This is not an endorsement of the worst excesses of the factory

farming system. Indeed, only by accepting it can we as consumers get the producers to work the

exacting standards we demand.” Should big agriculture be accepted, it can then be changed so

that the food it exports is clean, healthy, and produced conventionally. Only by decreasing the

cost of the production can the price of healthy food be reduced.

Agricultural pursuits often result in debt for the farmer(s) in attempt of making a living

for themselves. Food, Inc illustrates the struggle of farming due to the interference of large

corporations and agriculture. Large corporations get involved and affect the implementation of

the Farm Bill, not caring about the health of the product they are exporting. In Food, Inc., a

woman named ​Barb Kowalcyk​ ​tragically lost her son due to the E. Coli poisoning he received

from a contaminated burger. On average, approximately 3000 people die each year from

foodborne illnesses. She [Kowalcyk] then became an advocate for the reformation of

policymakers calling for the increased care and health regulations of the food industry. There

aren’t only health risks being posed to the public due to the food industry, food corporates are

finding ways to use commodity crops such as corn in order to feed animals. In “When a Crop

Becomes King,” on page six, paragraph six, it states : “In the case of beef cattle, which evolved

to eat grass, a corn diet wreaks havoc on their digestive system, making it necessary to feed them

antibiotics to stave off illness and infection.” Due to the overuse of antibiotics in food-producing

animals, an increase of resistant bacteria occurs, which can then be passed on to the consumer.
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With the presence of resistant bacteria or “superbugs,” serious infections can occur in the

consumer and in some cases, the severity of these infections result in death.

Policymakers must realize the havoc the food industry at present wreaks on society.

Through the advocation of the changes in policies regarded within the farm bill, such as Barb

Kowalcyk is doing, the public can reform the food industry as a whole. Through the

aforementioned changes, corporates of food companies can and must change their production

styles of their products. Using the Farm Bill, which is renewed every five years, the

amendments of the general food industry can be made relatively soon, rapidly reforming the

industry as society knows it. Minimizing the sheer amount of health risks caused by a negligent

food industry would overall benefit the society in which that food industry resides, and the local

economy of it as well.
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Works Cited

Pollan, Michael. “When a Crop Becomes King.” ​The New York Times,​ 19 July 2002,

www.nytimes.com/2002/07/19/opinion/when-a-crop-becomes-king.html​.

Accessed April 29th, 2019.

Rayner, Jay. “Big Agriculture is the Only Option to Stop the World Going Hungry.” ​The

Observer,​ September 11, 2010.

Kenner, Robert, Mark Adler, and Elise Pearlstein. Food, inc. Los Angeles, CA: Magnolia Home

Entertainment, 2008.

Dewald, Matt. “A Son's Death Lands UC Grad on ‘Food, Inc." and Fighting for Safer Food.”

University of Cincinnati​, magazine.uc.edu/issues/0912/kowalcyk.html.

Scientists, Concerned. “Unhealthy Food Policy.” ​Union of Concerned Scientists,​ 2018,

www.ucsusa.org/our-work/food-agriculture/our-failing-food-system/unhealthy-food-polic

y.

Sugar, Rachel. “The More Money You Make, the More Fast Food You Eat.” ​Vox​, Vox, 24 Oct.

2018, www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/10/24/18018544/fast-food-cdc-class-rich-people.