So where is the trust? This paper has researched and highlighted the effects of food manufacturing in an era of mass preparations, not necessarily concerned with health benefits of edible items. Industrialization continues to burgeon in every field: medicine, sports, media broadcasting, and food production. This moment represents a critical time for industrial food technology. In terms of safe, sanitary livestock, fruit and vegetable production there exists the simultaneous competition to make food products tasty, cost-efficient, and instantly consumed. Chemical-based food additives add flavors and colorings attractive to children, but are greasy French fries loaded with salt (and the promise of a ‘Happy Meal’ toy) a justifiable cause for children to set an unhealthy foundation for their lives? As processed food items pose an increased public health threat to adequate nutrition. Of course food manufacturers continue to employ methods of production to supply the consumer market with frozen meals of meats, soups, Chinese instant noodles, and other instantly delicious-tasting products.
Food sitting in cans or containers of all shapes and sizes on our shelves, for years at a time, speaks alarmingly to the questionable safety standards of various food additives. The industrial efforts of the food additives market has been wisely challenged by the Director of the ‘Circle of Health Wellness Center,’ Dr. Eve Allen, who encourages us to “explore why chemicals are added to our foods” in the first place (“How Food Additives Affect Our Health”). The essay herein covered the facts, according to Likun (2010) some food preservatives that also may have been banned include dyes, BHT, potassium bromate, rBGH, rBST, Olestra – and on and on it goes. While some members of the public seek to avoid such artificial chemical food additives, by either engaging in food preparation at home or eating in restaurants, the dangers are not necessarily avoided. It was learned according to one Reader’s Digest Online Magazine (2014) article that toxins and a plethora of cancer-causing substances were found in certain Chinese restaurants with disturbing regularity (p. 2). However, Chinese and American restaurants are perhaps equally to blame. And although it is true that many people prefer to avoid such tainted preservatives and chemical mixture in their food, by preparing their meals at home, the situation cannot entirely be avoided.
At this point we learned that pesticides and genetically modified foods bring a myriad of poisonous possibilities to the tables of most human beings. The genetically engineered processing of foods has concerned honest researchers for quite some time. Lasko (2013) reminded readers that ingesting plant crops so treated, or genetically tampered with, possibly contain long-term health risks yet unknown. While it is true that a homegrown meal of fresh-bought foods are less harmful than a fast-food meal accompanied by a chugging down of sugary soda drinks – the bio-chemical alterations changes the way nature formed the living seeds and greens. One consideration had shown that these genetically modified foods offer a less expensive food fare, is it really worth the risk to your family and loved ones? There are more questions than answers. What if the long-term side effects are yet fully known, causing monstrous biological dysfunctions many years down the road of life? For example, a future grandmother may develop cancer, severe dementia, or debilitating arthritis as a result of ingesting genetically modified foods. See the problem?
Finally, and hopefully, this essay has provided some insight into the whole affair of junk foods, chemical additives and preservatives, and genetically modified alterations in a world of manufactured industrial food. Costs are a concern for consumers and producers, yet to what degree shall health benefits be sacrificed? The fact that many foods are artificially grown in laboratories begs the inquiry of how civilized modern technology truly is. Such deliberate efforts by food manufacturers, backed up by the political will of big-agro-producers reflect a clear message: They intend to kill us for profit, by design.
