Foods that people consume play a major part in determining the quality of their lives. In reality, people are known because of the food culture they follow. Food has multiple meanings of human life. Essentially, the fundamental truth about food is that lack of food can lead to starvation and eventually death. The rise of global capitalism has made every individual look for fast and cheap food. Issues of scarcity and consistency necessitated the beginning of food technology, which requires the use of analytical methods to replicate and improve the quality of food (Lenon 685). The situation has been such that factories now have farms. Most of the production activities have chemical manipulation of the structure of an organism (Wallace 77). For instance, the stem cell technology that can reproduce the large structure involves some controlled events. It is worth noting that even though popular, factory farms are never good for the economy.
The factory farms are the sources of the fast foods that have littered the market. From a distant, the factory farms may seem as real solutions for the global food problems. However, a close look reveals terrible facts that conscious people cannot bear. One can quickly realize that the factory farms are destroying the economy. First, the factory farms encourage the development of the fast food industry that applies too much science to prepare food materials. According to Pollan, it took someone years of research to develop the Nuggets, and the hamburgers served in food shops like the McDonalds (653). Astonishingly, the Nuggets seem huge but have a small quantity of chicken meat, which is presumably the main component (Pollan, 650). The remaining parts of the nugget comprise of varieties of chemicals and corn layers described as thirty-eight ingredients. Surprisingly, the ingredients are plastic components from chemical plants and petroleum refineries. About thirteen of the total ingredients come from corn. Nonetheless, the fast food chains disguise the combinations and sell them at high prices. The abundant grain ingredients are cheaper to buy and consume in other ways different from nuggets. As such, the complications that involve the production of nuggets only lead to economic inefficiency, which is costly and unviable.
The chemical dimethylpolysiloxene used as an additive to the nugget is dangerous to human health. First, the chemical is carcinogenic, which means that it can cause cancer. Secondly, it is a mutagen and can compromise the genetic formula of a person_x0092_s body. Thirdly, it contains reproductive effectors and can interfere with a consumer_x0092_s reproductive system. Fourthly, it is flammable, which disqualifies it as a safe substance for human consumption. Another chemical called butylhydroquinone or TBHQ also forms part of the ingredients used to prepare the nuggets. The chemical has numerous health hazards. First, ingesting a small gram of the substance can lead to nausea, ringing ears, vomiting, delirium, collapse or even suffocation (Pollan 652). Consumption of about five grams of the chemical can cause death. The description of the chemical ingredients of nuggets and the fast foods can help one to understand the reasons that there have been increased cases of lifestyle diseases. Apparently, the lifestyle diseases are costing people huge monies and time to tackle. Consumers spend a lot of time in exercising to combat conditions like Type II diabetes. The cost of treatment attribute to the fact that there are no express drugs for the diseases and victims need to make several visits to hospitals.
The factory farms spend a lot of time by complicating the production of food materials that would require short time. Realistically, the time wasted in elongating the process of converting corn would go into another productive activity, which would create a significant economic value for the world. It is without a doubt that the processing of the grain food consumes electrical energy or fuels. Complicating the production process of the pure corn is power consuming and leads to significant wastage. The view of the wastage attributes to the knowledge of the simple steps that would assist in the processing of the corn and still retrieve the same value. Since corn is the chief element in all fast foods, then it means that this product is taking excess energy that would go into consistent production processes.
The factory farms have devised dangerous techniques of overfeeding innocent consumers with excess calories. The cheeseburgers, coke, hamburgers and the boneless meat produced and served by factory farms have significant corn supplements. After eating the corn, cattle, and chicken whose meat populates the food chain in the fast food convert them into nutrients suitable for their bodies. The process of conversion entails loss of about 90% of energy (Pollan 655). It then happens that a few people can buy the processed fast food and eat something whose original energy could feed a multitude of hungry children. Literary, when one person consumes a product whose original form could feed ten people, then we must think about the economics of the eating. A significant economic wastage occurs from the feeding of the citizens (Pollan 655). It would be reasonable if the fast food producers just sold the meat elements of the nuggets and humbuggers in isolation, and provide simple corn meal in isolation as well. Doing so would reduce the long process of converting and converting corn into various forms. This analogy is another proof that factory farm is bad for economies.
The preparation of lobsters is economic sabotage and wastage. The first wastage occurs in the form of energy that the world is struggling to minimize because its exploitation causes environmental degradation. For clear understanding, it is important to recognize the standard that requires the cooking lobsters while alive (Wallace 78). This criterion means that lobsters die as they cook. Indisputably, this process of heating water to kill and then start the actual cooking of lobsters consumes energy. The death of an organism is pure, loss of life. It should not matter the formula of losing a life. There can be significant power savings if heating to cook begins when lobsters are already dead. Achieving this energy conservation requires that cooks first kill the animal and then dip into water to boil.
Wallace describes that lobsters live in seas, which are salty. It is an apparent fact that salty waters have high boiling points compared to fresh waters (76). Scientifically, much energy is necessary to increase the temperature of seawater by one degree than needed to do the same for clean water. The problem then concerns the cooking of the molting lobsters. These animals have soft-shells or shedders that contain no flesh but seawater. In fact, eating such a delicacy becomes frustrating because the water can ooze to spill on the face of opposite eaters on a table (Wallace 78). Such features are avoidable if one can kill a lobster, remove the water in the shedders, and begin cooking. As argued earlier, the seawater in the shedders will require more energy to cook and soften the lobster. This situation means unnecessary wastage of energy, which in uneconomical and wasteful.
Wallace narrates that some cooks who fear to experience lobsters pushing kettle lids or scampering on the walls of pots trying to escape, prefer the use of a microwave to kill the animal (84). This act of heating the animals with microwave consumes electric energy. The saltiness of the lobsters_x0092_ body fluids means that they take longer to cook and die. This condition means that microwaves have to be operational for longer times for the animals to die. The use of the criteria when there are other ways of killing lobsters like cutting with a knife as common in Europe is a wastage of energy (Wallace 83). The microwave method can be reasonable if it is the only way of terminating the life of the animals.
The factory farms use chemicals and drugs to spruce the growth rate of the animals. The farms also enclose the animals in conditions that are terrible but give them many drugs to sustain their health. Ranchers dealing with grass-fed animals, on the other hand, lease land to do their farming, which is genuine (Lenon 685). Compared to the factory farms that enclose animals in small spaces, the ranchers, who lease fields, benefit economies because they make regular payments for the spaces. People eating from grass fed animals benefit from stable immunity and small risks of heart diseases. Lenon warns that factory farms lead to meats that have low levels of omega three components that are necessary to boost the immune system (686). The description means that the eaters of factory farms are susceptible to infections and diseases, which mean that they spend a lot of money in healthcare. This condition affects the economy of a country, and it is the reason all countries are fighting to maintain healthy conditions and reduce hospital visits. The processing of soybean to taste like meat is usually long and complicated. The process involves the use of many chemicals. The problem is the spending of a lot of time trying to prepare something that is available. This act translates into wastage of precious economic time and resources.
_x000c_Works Cited
Lenon, Christine. Why vegetarians are eating meat. 2017. Web. 5 Apr. 2017.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin, 2007. Print.
Wallace, David. Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays. New York; Little, Brown, 2005. Print.
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