Food Inc.

Central Argument:

Today the food system has become corrupted because of the greed that exist to produce food fast and in large amounts. The food that is produced is harmful because of the way it is engineered and the short-cuts that are taken to make sure enough of it is available. The food companies often abuse the animals (who are raised only to be slaughtered), as well as the farmers that have no option but to go along with the system.

Assertion:

• ·         Now there are a handful of companies controlling our food system.

• ·         If you could grow a chicken in 49 days, why would you want one that takes 3 months? (Companies’ point of view)

• ·         Today we are engineering our food. (This is mostly due to the mass production of corn)

• ·         We put faith in the government to protect us, but we are not being protected in the most basic level.

• ·         When the food companies have a problem they don’t use the solution that could fix it, they look for high-tech substitutions that will allow the system to survive.  

Opinion:

I think this topic is a tricky one. It is obvious that the food system is flawed; however the answer to the question of how to fix it is one that is not as straightforward. It would be easy to say that the currents conditions the system it is under should be reversed at once, but the effects of such actions are ones that cannot be predicted. The way I see it is that there should be a gradual return to a safer, more efficient system that does not enforce policies such as the ones that are popular today. I think this would allow for a better system to take place without compromising the production of food and therefore allow for food-shortages to take place.  It would be great if such measures were beginning to be enforced; however truth is that the system will not change unless we want it to. While the food companies are the ones that control the food system, we as consumers have the ultimate power. If we want things to change we have to take charge and make those changes happen because at the rate things are going these changes will never take place.