One World Essay: Food Preservatives and Mass Production

Maria Los

Science

8B

12/11/11

                                                                Evolution of Food

Food is all around us and is necessary for everyday survival. Yet it has become so different from what it used to be. With the developing of new technologies, transportation and a growing population we require food to last longer and in mass production. Have you ever wondered why maybe the apple you eat is so deeply colored red, or perhaps why the food in chain restaurants manage to produce so much food, yet have it all taste the same? Many people don’t consider this, they put trust into food producers and marketers to tell them the truth and serve up healthy and safe food. Yet this is not the truth, food which was once a necessity is now a business.  Yet what are the health dangers of these new “brands” of food, and what will the future hold for food? And how using food preservatives and mass production is affecting this all?

The definition of mass-production is to produce something in very large quantities for a low cost; the use of assembly lines is often used in this system. The food that is sold in these fast food joints are mainly produced in great numbers and then frozen for transportation, when they end up at the restaurants in large freezers. Employees’ then heat up the food and serve it to customers. To make these foods taste the same, natural flavorings cannot be used by companies producing these food products and they must add artificial flavorings, this will be delved into deep later on in the essay. When preparing this food to be sold to a customer the procedures are quite robotic. Everyone has a certain job, made to be quick and efficient so that the food all has the same taste, having no variety in different products. The employees are the same way, given specific instructions to follow. This is what sets apart “fast” food chains from working restaurants where the food is made from scratch. They give a fast-food chain the ability to produce its food quickly, hence “fast” food; you must supply it with a consistent supply of product. This is what a distribution network does for a chain.  Yet these chains usually do not have the facilities to keep enormous amount of food, so this food is stored within a warehouse where it sits until needing to be shipped off and used. This may seem as if it is a good situation, food is produced quickly, giving it to us whenever we need it, while these companies are making more money by selling their food.

The unfortunate truth is being mass produced there must be some downside, because when you mass produce food the health factor drop by a substantial amount. A good example of this would be McDonald’s food. The average person’s intake should be consisting of about; 2,000 calories, 65 grams of fat and 1779 milligrams of sodium. Yet with an average McDonalds meal, that is made up of a dessert, burger, fried and a soda it would add up to being; 1,701 calories, 72 grams  of fat and 1,630 milligrams of  sodium. So in one meal you would be getting all the sodium, fat and calories that should be consumed in one day. This is why fast-food and mass-produced items contain more fat and less, healthy fiber that we actually need. The calorie and sugar content is higher and so is the salt content as well. Since this food is made quickly, there is no time to give a second look on its effects to people’s health so things such as organic or fresh are not heard of. Within these foods, not only high contents of sodium, calories, and fats, are prevalent. Trans-fats are a type of fat used excessively in the fast food market; these are also called partially hydrogenated oils. These oils might be what makes fast food appealing to people by making it taste better, but the health effects are much worse than normal fats. While normal fats can be consumed in moderation and not have devastating effects on health consuming 5 grams of trans fat can raise the risk of heart attack for you up by 25%. This is shocking considering that most of the larger sized meals contain a sufficient amount of trans fats, going over this 5 grams mark multiple times.  Even though the idea of mass production is appealing because of the endless supply to a chains, easy preparation and fast service yet the health effects tell a different story.

Ever wondered why some products can last so much longer than, maybe, something bought fresh? The reason for this is thanks to the chemical preservatives in food. These are used to stop the slow spoiling of food and restrain the microorganisms.  There can be 3 different varieties of preservatives, the first are antimicrobials which stop bacteria, yeast and mold from forming. The second are antioxidants which stop oxidization; hence the name and the third are Metal Chetlates which alter the natural ripening cycle of the food. These protect us from the microbes all around us, in small quantities these cannot harm us yet with larger amount (which starts with a single bacterium and can spread very quickly) and then they can become a problem. Through having preservatives we are able to give foods longer shelf life’s and be safe for transportation by stopping the forming of bacteria and it’s spreading which can have dangerous effects. Preservatives are used widely today yet mostly on products such as spreads that are low fat, bakery items, dressings, margarines, cheeses, mayonnaises and dried fruits. Yet a similar dilemma to one we have with mass-production is, are these methods safe? Of course, food preservatives stop and prevent the spread of bacteria, which keeps us from getting food borne illnesses but we are also placing chemicals in our foods, which can potentially also have health effects. Food preservatives have to be safe enough so that the cells in the human body are not affected by any of the process also the quantities of preservatives that are allowed to be put into food is limited. Yet this might change because over years the bacteria in our food has started to slowly become more, and more resistant to the preservatives we are using. This means raising dosages to produce the desired results as were before. This is where the speculation comes in, is it healthy to be adding more preservatives into food? Still there are other rumored health effects of food preservatives. Such rumors are those that some preservatives, specifically those added to products such as cereal and potato chips, can cause cancerous tumors. Another is that those found in canned corn and tomatoes can raise a person’s blood pressure or some people are allergic to food preservatives giving the reaction of rash and hives. Yet microorganism spoilage is still a great threat, it raises the toxins in a food making it a threat to its safety and the way a food smells, tastes and appears making it a threat to quality as well.  There are, though, other ways to preserve foods. These methods include; canning, in which the food is packed into a can and then heated to a high temperature. There is freezing, in which the temperature is dropped to slow down enzyme activity.  Another is drying, where water is removed from the food which dehydrates the microbes. Additional others are, pickling, which lowers the PH level of the food, jam-making, this uses a lot of sugar which draws out the water, and perhaps the oldest way of preservation, smoking, in which the food is hung over a fire and the chemical in the smoke kill the microbes. The preservatives that we use today are often somewhat based off similar ones that nature provides us with. Unfortunately, there are not enough of these to widely use in large quantities so humans have synthetically recreated them. Looking from the point of view of the human safety, the food with the most need for these preservatives is probably meat that is processed. This is because the bacteria produced in these products can easily turn into poisons which are deadly to the human body. Yet this should be no problem because there are currently over 80 substances that are allowed to be used a preservatives, keeping our food safe to eat.

                We know what mass production and food preservatives are, and have lightly skimmed the effects of these two food industry aspects. While food preservation does allow us to have food that is sanitary, the effects are not all around good. Looking at the effect through an environmental point of view there are some. When given the power to preserve a food you are able to transport it as well. Transporting lots of food overseas and even to other countries causes pollution. Whether sent by plane or trucked to the buyer. This is why the benefits of buying locally are much greater. When you buy locally you can support the economy because you are buying from farms that are local. This in turn lets the farm land develop and farmers make a profit. Local produce can also decrease your carbon footprint, the food you eat will not have to travel great distances to have come to you and end up on your table. Last but not least, buying local will give you the freshest choice. You will get farm fresh food rather than food that has been sitting being transported overseas. Yet what are the effects of having mass production? Such huge amounts of product is produced through mass production, a great example of this are an American snack called Twinkies. These are produced so quickly that every minute 1,000 are produced, 16 every second and for every blink, 4 Twinkies are made. Yet what is even worse is that Hostess, the company that produces Twinkies use up 40,000 miles, or 64,373 kilometers of plastic wrap every year. Having to produce products so fast these companies often go through so many materials and they are not recyclable.

                In conclusion, food has changed a lot through time. Where we started out as hunter-gatherers, we have evolved a lot to changing the food we have today even though in its natural form it is good enough. We have developed so that the ways that we produce food as well today is very different. Through mass production and food preservatives we are able to alter our food to suit our needs that we have today. Food must be able to travel over distances, be produced in large amounts and keep up appearance and quality for a long period of time. Though there are effects some good, some not, humans have been able to achieve this level of food engineering and control.

                                                                                                                                                              

 

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