The U.S. Food Supply - The New Jungle

Over one hundred years ago, Upton Sinclair wrote a book titled the Jungle. A pretty harsh look at the exploitation of labor in our food industry. People responded and began to care. Pretty soon, shortly after the book was released, changes to the safety of our food supply would be enacted. Quick and decisive, the changes were enacted so that ALL Americans had as safe food supply.

Today, our food supply is terrible. Due to economic stagnation, there are 2 classes of food supplies. A sort of "Caste" system. The poor and lower middle class will eat foods that are cheap, and loaded with toxins and additives the increase their risk of poor health. This is the largest part of our food supply that  improves the profits of corporations. The 2nd caste which is the affluent get organic rich foods that lower their chances of poor health. Free of antibiotics and chemicals, the upper middle class and rich live healthier lives thanks to profiteering.

What can we do about the inequities of our food supply? Legislation is meaningless for most consumers. We regulate the information labels and people have no problem consuming what is unhealthy. Compare the food labels from our country to foreign countries. We quickly learn there are a lot of unnatural ingredients in our food. In fact, those ingredients have links to cancer, and can impact our central nervous system. Even the food supply for our children can be linked to negatively impacting healthy childhood development. Yet massive amounts of healthy foods are consumed daily.

It seems education is not working. We know there are social injustices to our food supply. Healthy foods cost more. It would seem that our nation is fine with the inequities that exist in our food supply. It is okay, that people in the lower socioeconomic strata of our population has access to substandard food. Many people that live healthy, could care less that a healthy food budget is not attainable in our country for those less fortunate.

It would seem that some think that the market will correct itself because consumers will demand higher quality food. It simply is not true.  Profits matter. For example, High Fructose Corn Syrup is in everything. It is linked to an increase in Type II Diabetes. Yet, it is widely available, especially in poor communities. However, around the world, HFCS is not as common as the United States. Countries look at the other "bottom line" Pay nor or we all pay later. Increased health costs based on an inferior food supply are eventually passed along to the consumer, as in the taxpayer. In a sense, our model increases profits for the manufacturer by passing along the health care costs to working families. Those same families are already overburdened by stagnant wages, so the dependence on the food supply that is inferior increases. Compare the ingredients in a few common products by American companies to how they produce them abroad.

COKE
Candian Ingredients
carbonated water, sucrose, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors, caffeine

US Ingredients
carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors, caffeine

UK Ingredients
carbonated water, sugar, colour (caramel E150d), phosphoric acid, natural flavourings (including caffeine).

GATORADE
Canadian Ingredients
Water, sugar, dextrose, citric acid, natural and artificial flavours, salt, sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, gum arabic, color, ester gum

US Ingredients
Water, sucrose, citric acid, salt, sodium citrate, natural and artificial flavor, monopotassium phosphate, Sucralose, Acesulfame potassium, Red 40, Blue 1

UK Ingredients
Water, sucrose, dextrose, citric acid, electrolytes (sodium chloride, sodium citrate, potassium phosphate, magnesium carbonate), flavourings, antioxidant (ascorbic acid), modified starch, emulsifiers (gum arabic, sucrose acetate isobutyrate), colour (beta-carotene)

HEINZ KETCHUP
Canadian Ingredients
Tomato Paste made from fresh ripe tomatoes, Liquid Sugar, White Vinegar, Salt, Onion Powder and Spices.

US Ingredients
Tomato Concentrate, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Spice, Onion Powder, Natural Flavoring.

UK Ingredients
Spirit Vinegar, Sugar, Salt, Spice & Herb Extracts (contains Celery), Spice

RITZ CRACKERS
Canadian Ingredients
Enriched wheat flour, soybean oil , cheddar cheese (milk ingredients, bacterial culture, salt, microbial enzyme, calcium chloride, colour, lipase), sugar, salt, baking soda, malted barley flour, calcium phosphate, spices, ammonium bicarbonate, colour (contains tartrazine), protease, amylase.

US Ingredients
unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), whole grain wheat flour, soybean oil, sugar, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, leavening (calcium phosphate, and/or baking soda), salt, high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin.

UK Ingredients
Wheat Flour, Vegetable Oil, Sugar, Raising Agents (Ammonium and Sodium Bicarbonates, Disodium Diphosphate), Salt, Glucose Syrup, barley Malt Flour.

We are talking pennies a day to change the food supply. Unfortunately, pennies add up when you are a country of 330 million people. The board rooms across our country will not change, until we demand better food quality for all citizens. Upton Sinclair wrote the Jungle in a time when most of our citizens were economic on the same strata. Change was easy back then. Unfortunately, we live in a different country whereas the marginalized citizens do not matter anymore. Let's hope we can change that scenario, along with our food supply.