Reflection Essay

                After learning about food production, my views on what I eat and where my food comes from have changed dramatically. Many food production companies, such as: the meat industry, farming crops, and fast food companies; are cruel and extremely unsanitary. I truly do not understand why the United States is allowing these products to be made in the country or brought into the country. It amazes me that people are allowed to handle or make our food the way they do.

                If everyone in the United States saw how cheeseburger or chicken tenders were treated before they were made into a cheeseburger or a chicken tender, many meat production companies would be out of business. But, no one, besides the people in the meat industry, will ever know the entire truth about the meat process because of their strict and unfair policies. The meat industry has to keep everything top secret because they know that if people find out how their meat is being processed, almost everyone would probably become a vegetarian. Before being made into a meal, the animals are injected with several different drugs and are given corn to eat (makes them fatter) to speed up their growing process, and then thrown into a field or a coop full of nothing but disease and feces. Just think, all those drugs, disease, and feces eventually end up in our bodies after we eat meat from those animals. Don’t you feel as if you’ve been lied to about the meat you eat all these years?

                After reading about the meat industry in the last paragraph, you might want to become a vegetarian, right? Wrong. The farming industry is just as bad. The fruits and vegetables that we eat are also injected with drugs to speed up the growing process. Believe it or not, the seeds that grow the crops are even tampered with. Some food industries pay scientists to genetically alter the seeds to make sure that all the seeds are exactly the same, grow exactly the same, and taste exactly the same. Many of our crops do not even come from the United States. They come from countries all over the world. Why import crops from other parts of the world when we can grow them in our own backyard? Because the United States receives crops at a cheaper price rather than paying farmers in the United States, who make twice as much of a salary then workers in other countries, to grow crops for the citizens of the U.S.  Also, the fertilizers used to help U.S. crops grow kill many people every year. The fertilizers used are the wastes from the meat industries’ animals. They kill people because the meat industry gives their animals corn, which makes these animals sick. Then, the waste from the sick animals is used for the crops which then makes the crops “sick.” Then, people the eat crops, become sick, and die. This happens all year around.

                Over the past few years, people are realizing and learning about the dangers associated with fast food meals. Fast food is practically the definition of unhealthy. I personally think that after learning about what goes into fast food meals and how they are processed; I’ll never eat a Happy Meal from McDonald’s ever again. Meat fillers, pesticides, steroids, chemicals, you name it; it’s most likely in your food from a fast food restaurant. I can’t even begin to explain how disgusting the food process is when it comes to fast food. People think that just because everyone eats fast food and the United States allows it, that it’s okay. Well, they’re wrong. The fast food process is not okay, and we need to put a stop to it. They’re must be healthier ways to make fast food and make it taste just as good, if not better.

                 My mom as always made my family eat organic meals and healthy snacks. There was usually no other options for me. Before learning about this food process, I thought she was being over-dramatic about non-organic foods so I would eat what she bought for us without complaining. Now, I see her point of view from another perspective. This entire time, she was helping me make the right eating choices and keeping me from becoming oblivious to the things I eat or where they come from. Changing my diet won’t be extremely hard for me because I barely have anything to change considering all of the meals my mom makes are all organic. Also, after learning about these food processes, I don’t think I’ll ever want to eat an Apple from Guatemala, or a Happy Meal from McDonald’s, or even a regular cheeseburger. Learning about what goes in your body and where it was before it was in your body is a life changing experience. But, I don’t regret learning about it at all. It will help me make not only good choices for me, but also try to help the people around me make good choices for themselves too.

                I hope this information has changed your mind about what you eat and where it comes from. The way the food industry has, and continues to, hide the truth about the food process isn’t fair to everyone eating the food. I believe people deserve to know the truth about what they’re eating and how they can prevent themselves from getting sick by eating organic foods. I never realized the difference between non-organic and organic foods, but now I do and I hope you do too. If we all work together to stop the food industry from giving us unhealthy, disease infested, risky foods, we can make a huge change across America. No one should be uninformed about the dangers of non-organic food, so tell everyone you know and even people you don’t know these cautions and risks. You’ll not only help lives, but you might even be saving lives too. We actually have control over this problem, so let’s do something about it.