Food Production and Distribution Reflection Essay

Adam Beard

Honors Human Geography

October 14, 2010

Food Production Reflection Essay

            During this week and especially last week, I learned about food production and distribution in class. I saw through a movie that many cows are getting fed corn instead of natural grass, making them more prone to the risk of e coli, which can sometimes travel all the way to the supermarket they are delivered to. I also learned that many of the chickens that are slaughtered run the risk of disease just from the conditions they are living in. Many of these meats that our class has talked about have been badly maintained in many factories and slaughter houses, still usually ending up in the grocery store. Many meats go through sanitation processes but they still are sometimes unhealthy. This country needs to make sure that every meat is good to go and eat because healthy foods are more important than the money they make.

            Many cows today are fed corn feed instead of the usual grass they eat years ago. The reason behind this is simply to make the cows bigger faster in order for the meat company to gather more money from that cow than when the cow eats grass. The meat company is only concerned about the money they earn. They don’t even care about the healthiness of the cows, they just want to rack of the money to beat out other bigger meat companies. When the cows are fed corn products, they run the risk of major disease, like e coli. Many cases of e coli have been prevalent in the past decade and that number is rising with some of the victims even dying from the impacts of it. In all, the unhealthiness of cows has been delivered to our local supermarkets, making us make a choice if we should buy the meat. I think that something needs to be done to make our country’s meats free of contamination.

            I was very surprised when I saw that all of the chickens and cows in the film were just tortured by the people taking them to the slaughter house to be slaughtered. I saw all of the chickens being thrown around like they were footballs and the cows were being forced to walk even if they were too sick or too big to even take a step. I do not like seeing any kind of animal being abused especially, when there is no reason for it. All animals in my mind deserve to live and be treated nicely because they are all part of God’s creation. Another way to take the animals is by being gentle with them and treating them with respect. So instead of the animal being pushed and thrown around, they can do their own thing before they are sent to the slaughter house.

            Another kind of meat that is sold in the slaughter houses is organic meat. When meat is organic, it is all natural containing no hormones or preservatives. Meat is organic when the cows, chickens, or other animals are fed grass instead of the usual fat-containing corn. When the animals eat grass, they grow at a normal rate instead of getting bigger faster. I think grass is the best thing for an animal to eat because it is pure natural and it maintains good health throughout the animal’s growing time. Then, instead of the animal being super large, it is at its normal size and then it goes to the slaughter house to be made into meat. Organic meat also carries no chance of the meat containing e coli. The organic meat is then shipped to the local supermarket where it will contain the USDA Organic Seal to make known that the meat is organic. When my family shops at the grocery store, we always buy the normal meat but buying organic is another option we might consider since it is all natural and full of healthiness.

            Many foods from our local supermarket are from various locations that use a ton of gas just delivering the food here, which hurts our environment. That is why I think it is a better idea to make more locally grown fruits, vegetables, and meats so we don’t have to use all of that gas for it to get here. Then, we will actually know where it came from and that it is full of freshness.

Instead of having practically no knowledge on many of the foods we eat, we will know for sure what our locally grown foods have in them and how they are grown. More local grown foods in this country will help with our environmental issues and save a ton of energy from delivery trucks.

            With the unsustainability in our different meats, many people have started to buy organic foods more than just the regular meats. But many companies have responded to this issue of harmful meats by making the meat go through many sanitation tests to help diminish the chance they had for any kind of disease, which I think is better. Also, our generation of food production is much more careful and precise then years ago when there were only a few tests done to see if the food was contaminated. I will at least think about buying organic but I know food now a days is much more safe than it used to be and it is beginning to become more healthier, too. But I still like to see cows and other animals roam the fields free of harm eating the natural food in grass.

I might though change some of the choices I make at my local grocery store and choose things that I know are healthy and free of disease. This different selection of foods might also even change the way I eat in my everyday life. But I will definitely try and do one thing by encouraging everyone I know to always try and bur local foods if you can because it will save our country by not releasing all of these harmful gases into the air from these food delivery trucks. This will make our country more green and our citizens more proud of the choices they make.