Produce that is purchased in the supermarket or a big-box store has been in transit or cold-stored for days or even weeks. While produce that you purchase at your local farmer's market has often been picked within 24 hours of your purchase, which makes food not only taste better but it maintains its nutritional value, which decreases as time passes.
Poor Choices = More Hospital Visits
Many of the diseases we face today are related to a poor diet. Many of the food-borne illnesses today are caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, pesticides, and hormone contaminated food and water. This means that if you buy local or organic produce your risk depletes greatly.
*VOCAB* - BIOTERRORISM: terrorism involving the intentional release of of biological agents such as bacteria, viruses, or toxins. Food traveling from less distance and from smaller farms creates a lower susceptibility to food contamination, helping to protect your family.
*VOCAB* - BIOTERRORISM: terrorism involving the intentional release of of biological agents such as bacteria, viruses, or toxins. Food traveling from less distance and from smaller farms creates a lower susceptibility to food contamination, helping to protect your family.
90% of the budget Americans spend on food is used on processed food. This processed food is full of additives that can change the food's color, taste, and shelf life.
Currently, there are over 3000 food additives approved for use in the U.S. Once the FDA approves a food additive it is considered fit for consumption, but some additives negatively affect your health. For example take monosodium glutamate (MSG) which has been known to cause headaches, nausea, weakness, trouble breathing, drowsiness, rapid heartbeat, and chest pain. There have been many more additives that were once considered to be safe but are now known to cause or be linked with severe health problems - like cancer.
Eating locally lowers your risk of eating food containing chemicals, contaminated food, or food with antibiotic resistant bacteria. The Farm Idustry has gotten too large, and as a result consumers health are put at risk.
Contamination
E. coli virus
Most food-related illnesses come from a bacteria or viral infection – the most common being Campylobacter, Salmonella, and E. coli. But many food illnesses are poisonings from harmful toxins or chemicals.
Significant exposure to pesticides has been linked to poisoning, infertility,
birth defects, damage to the nervous system and potentially cancer.
Significant exposure to pesticides has been linked to poisoning, infertility,
birth defects, damage to the nervous system and potentially cancer.
A Taste of Poison
Swordfish have high levels of toxins in their flesh
For hundreds of years, people have been dumping waste into our oceans thinking that these hazardous chemicals would disappear. But they don't; instead they find their way into the ecosystem and begin to poison marine life.
The smallest animals on the food chain eat these poisons. Then, the larger animals eat massive amounts of the smaller, now poisoned, animals. Slowly the larger animals begin to have buildups of these chemicals in their muscle tissues and major organs. These large fish, the ones most infected by these poisons, are then caught and eaten by the animals on the top of the food chain - humans.
POISONS FOUND IN OCEAN FISH...
- mercury
- chromium
- lead
- Polychlorinated biphenyls (PBCs)
--- chemical used to manufacture electrical equipment paints, motor oil, plastics, floor finish...
Metals in Fertilizers
Copper is a metal often found in fertilizer
Metals are often added to animal feed, and when they are excreted through manure they often end up on fields as part of fertilizers. This fertilizer can then pollute drinking water if it either seeps into groundwater or exits the fields through water runoff.
By using these mass amounts of ferlilizers, our chance of being posioned increases
significantly. Over 76 million Americans suffer from food poisoning each year.
Imported foods (from other countries) make up 13% of the American diet so far, and it is a number that is growing. However out of this percentage, only 1.3% is inspected for safety and quality.
LARGE SCALE FARMS AND NITRATE POISONING
Large farms often pollute local water sources through the release of nitrates and nitrites from chemical fertilizers. Locals then drink this water, which leads to major health problems.
Nitrate poisoning can cause dangerously low blood-oxygen levels in babies (also known as blue-baby syndrome), spontaneous abortions, and possibly cancer.
Nitrate poisoning can cause dangerously low blood-oxygen levels in babies (also known as blue-baby syndrome), spontaneous abortions, and possibly cancer.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, for every 325,000 people hospitalized for food related illness 5,200 die.
WHO IS PREVENTING POISONED FOOD FROM ENTERING THE MARKETPLACE?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) are responsible for the regulation of the food industry. They are responsible to setting standards and monitoring companies. However, despite the FDA and USDA can request a food recall from companies, they cannot actually order one to be implemented.
Once a food recall has been requested by a government agency, manufacturers can choose to pull the product from circulation or they can choose not to. Because these recalls are not mandatory, poisoned food can remain on the marketplace for consumers to buy.
Once a food recall has been requested by a government agency, manufacturers can choose to pull the product from circulation or they can choose not to. Because these recalls are not mandatory, poisoned food can remain on the marketplace for consumers to buy.
The Meat Industry
Confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) pollute the environment in a multitude of ways; many of which involve air pollution. The USDA estimates that 335 million tons of manure are produced over the course of one year on U.S factory farms. Often times this stored in giant tanks, and as it decomposes, polluting the air with gases. Around 80% of the U.S's ammonia emissions come from livestock manure, ammonia that is released into the air we breathe. An even more pressing issue is the long term exposure to these toxic gasses workers at these farms are exposed to and the negative health impacts they have to deal with.
GASES RELEASED AND THEIR EFFECTS
Hydrogen Sulfide -- Can cause skin, eye, and respiratory irritation, seizures, comas, neurological and
cardiac disorders, and (in extreme cases) death.
Ammonia-- Causes irritation of the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract. Can also lead to bronchitis and
asthma along with a variety of cardiac disorders.
Endotoxins -- Poisons produced by dying bacteria can cause respiratory problems. These toxins directly relate to the breakdown of manure.
Mad Cow Disease
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow disease is more common because of the industrial food industry. Since the diseases first appearance in British dairy herds in 1986, BSE has affected roughly 200,000 cattle, including several in the United States. There is no cure for cows affected by Mad cow disease, nor to the human dieases which Mad Cow causes - for example, Mad Cow disease can cause Variant Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease or vCJD in humans, which is thought to take up to 30 years to manifest and has no cure.
ANTIBIOTICS
Industrial farms have began mixing antibiotics into livestock feed in 1946, when studies showed that the drugs cause animals to grow faster and put on weight more efficiently. Today antibiotics are routinely fed to livestock, poultry, and fish on industrial farms to promote faster growth and to compensate for the unsanitary conditions in which they are raised.*
*** Large scale corporations have animals live in close confinement, often standing or laying in their own filth, with no time to go and move around. This along with the constant stress caused by the living conditions inhibits their immune systems. This makes them more prone to infection.***
80 to 90 percent of all antibiotics given to animals are not fully digested and eventually pass through the body and enter the environment, where they can encounter new bacteria and create additional resistant strains. With huge quantities of manure routinely sprayed onto fields surrounding CAFOs, antibiotic resistant bacteria can leech into surface and ground water, contaminating drinking wells which endangers the health of people living in the area.
*** Large scale corporations have animals live in close confinement, often standing or laying in their own filth, with no time to go and move around. This along with the constant stress caused by the living conditions inhibits their immune systems. This makes them more prone to infection.***
80 to 90 percent of all antibiotics given to animals are not fully digested and eventually pass through the body and enter the environment, where they can encounter new bacteria and create additional resistant strains. With huge quantities of manure routinely sprayed onto fields surrounding CAFOs, antibiotic resistant bacteria can leech into surface and ground water, contaminating drinking wells which endangers the health of people living in the area.
Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria
Large meat production factories are horrible places for animals to be. Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions can cause rapid outbreak of disease which has lead to the creation and massive use of antibiotics. However, these antibiotics don't kill off all bacteria, in fact the overuse of these antibiotics has lead to an epidemic of antibiotic resistant bacteria. This bacteria remains in your food and if consumed can lead to massive health problems.
It is estimated that 18,000 Americans die every year from drug-resistant infections.
The National Academy of Sciences calculates that increased health care costs in the U.S
associated with antibiotic resistant bacteria exceed $4 billion each year! But this estimate
does not account for lost work days, decreased productivity, and general human discomfort
as result of health problems.
It is estimated that 18,000 Americans die every year from drug-resistant infections.
The National Academy of Sciences calculates that increased health care costs in the U.S
associated with antibiotic resistant bacteria exceed $4 billion each year! But this estimate
does not account for lost work days, decreased productivity, and general human discomfort
as result of health problems.