Food industry

 

Food safety/food poisoning

            Food borne illness usually arises from improper handling, preparation, and food storage. The movie focuses mainly on the food industry and the production of the food that is eventually sold to consumers at cheaper prices. The movie mostly focuses on what happens to the food the farmers and the industries that we are not made aware off. In the United States alone, using data from food nets’ 2000–2007 analysis, the CDCP estimated there were 47.8 million food borne illnesses every year. Of these cases, 127,839 were hospitalized and 3,037 people died. The number one food borne bacteria is nuvovirus followed by salmonella. On the other hand, the number one killer is salmonella.

            The movie states that the consumer through the foods that we buy injects most food bourn deceases. The movie believes that bacteria such as salmonella are exposed to most food consumers through products such as meats, eggs, and dairy produce. It goes ahead and shows us the conditions in which some of the slaughtered animals that both the farmers and the industry present to us as food. The movie states that the condition in which this food is reared is bound to spread disease.

            The movie shows that some farmers do not care about the health of the products especially meat, that leaves their firm, As long as they can make profit. In the movie, it is observed that most food industries are the facilitators of these small farmers, therefore, what the companies say goes. Poultry farmers, for example have been instructed to upgrade to no windows in the chicken houses. This is irrespective of the fact that this has led to spread of disease among the very same poultry, which gets slaughtered and sold to the consumers by the food industry.

            The USDA states that food borne illnesses such as salmonella occurred from a variety of foods including poultry, meats, eggs, milk products, fruit juice, fish, shrimp, frog legs, yeast, coconut, sauces and salad dressing, cake mixes, breakfast cereal, cream-filled desserts and toppings, dried gelatin, peanut butter, cocoa, chocolate, and dried spices. It goes ahead and states that the incidence of Salmonella is much higher in raw agricultural products (e.g., raw eggs, or uncooked poultry or meat) than in cooked or processed food products. However, Salmonella can occur in other foods as a result of cross-contamination with raw foods, or from contamination from humans, animals, birds, or reptiles. This means that if the preparation of food is not conducted in a proper hygienic way, then the likelihood of illnesses such as salmonella spreading fast are from the food processor to the consumer is high.

           Currently, the FDA claims to have the situation at hand. It claims to have defined current Good Manufacturing Practices for food (cGMPs). These cGMPs outline the minimally required general sanitation practices in FDA-inspected food handling and processing facilities. However, It is recommended that more specific and stringent standard operating procedures (SOPs) be developed for individual facilities.

            For now, however, it claims that the sanitation recommendations for food service and retail food facilities outlined in the FDA Food Code of 2005 have been adopted into many state and local regulations. These remains to be seen because the movie states that the food industry runs the main show and not the government. Therefore, change can only occur if the consumers take the first move because the food industry is only after the money and profit.

            The movie in itself acts as a revelation to the consumer. Now the consumers can understand why so many food borne illnesses are cropping up from the food, we eat. Only the consumer can stop this madness. By being made aware of the dangers faced by the consumer due to a few money hungry individuals in the food industry, the consumers gains knowledge on what to avoid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Brown, A. C. (2011). Understanding food: Principles and preparation. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub Co.

Dillon, M., & Griffith, C. (2001). Auditing in the food industry: From safety and quality to environmental and other audits. Boca Raton: CRC.

Learn2succeed.com Inc. (2012). Food poisoning and waterborne illness: How to prevent 1.8 million deaths every year. Toronto: Productive Publications.

Schlosser, E. (2012). Fast food nation: The dark side of the all-American meal. Boston: Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.