Jay Kovach ESPM 3601 - Spring 2013 Writing Assignment #2

Horse-Meat Hotdish & Petroleum Pie:

Outdated recipes for disaster.

The U.S. Food System Every time I mention something that involves machinery to be grown, to be processed and preserved, or to be prepared and served I am mentioning something that takes oil to function. The more machines used in production the bigger the embodied chemical load of the product. Pesticides to packaging all rely on persistent chemicals and petroleum and their chemical signatures are everywhere. Everything that we eat has been touched by these things figuratively and if it has touched physically there is some trace that remains. Approximately 1400 pesticides are currently approved for use in the United States, those are a lot of chemical hopefuls for becoming the future DDT. Environmental researcher Charles Benbrook estimates that switching to organic food production would reduce our overall exposure to pesticides by 97%. His report, Simplifying the Pesticide Risk Equation, concludes that the switch would lead to more full-term births, fewer underweight babies, reduced rates of birth defects and significant benefits for developing immune, reproductive and nervous systems. He says the benefits of avoiding pesticide exposure begin about six months before conception and continue throughout life, (Alterman, 2013). Incredibly, we give subsidies to oil and industrial agriculture instead of the healthier alternatives. The way things are done may have made sense at the time of inception and most likely saved more lives than I could imagine but they dont anymore, in fact, theyre damaging society. Governments job is to foster positive changes to maintain the well-being of its people, in order for Congress to do this they will have to pull an 180 turn and take a few cues on food education from the First Lady, Michelle Obama. In the U.S. 1 in 6 need food assistance and many are in situations where they cant grow their own food behind their White House, we need to identify new, stronger leverage points than EBT and incentives for corporations to make cheaper but not nutritionally valuable food. Taxes would go down if chemical-agricultural supporting subsidies were eliminated leaving more income for food. Give those same subsidies to renewable energy and organic farms (the two often go together) and you encourage growth and development in the industry with unknown numbers of benefits to consumers, at least for now. In a 2008 UN report, chem-farming yields were lower than organic-farming yields, my theory is weve destroyed the soil with chemicals and many would agree. Organic is said to be 15% more labor intensive and has been said to hire 2.5 times the employees as its chemical counterpart creating more jobs and less dependence on food support. In response to a 2013 incident involving horsemeat entering the food supply the Academic Health Center at the UMN said, There are still many unknown aspects to the situation, but this incident of

economically motivated adulteration (EMA), or food fraud, is notable for its scale and provides yet another example of how globalized and complex our food supply chain is. It also illustrates how EMA occurs and why it can be so difficult to prevent. For EMA to occur there must be a perpetrator and an incentive, combined with a feasible method for committing the fraud and vulnerabilities in our quality assurance/regulatory systems for food that allow it to persist undetected. This concern is almost entirely bypassed by positive food choices like organics, CSAs, local, and farmers markets as qualities like fresh and unprocessed are harder to fake. Three quick things of note shared by the UMN: EMA is a $10-15 billion per year problem in the food industry. EMA is essentially the mislabeling of food or the willful addition of inferior or undeclared ingredients for economic gain. NCFPD director Shaun Kennedy has stated that an estimated 10% of the food we buy on the shelf may be adulterated. Finally, the Academic Health Center mentions something else of interest on the UMN website: Ground beef was not routinely tested for the presence of horsemeat because it was not an expected adulterant. Because analytical methods for identifying adulterants in food can be expensive and are often tailored toward specific known adulterants, unexpected or novel adulterants can be particularly difficult to detect. This also means that if something isnt known about or considered harmful, it cannot and will not be looked for. Weve given up control and let the system run wild but the answer isnt more control, instead it is in identifying strategic leverage points with holistic effects.

Diet Health Effects What we eat is just as important as the act of eating itself. According to the FAO, 36 million people die each year of hunger and poor nutrition. An estimated 868 million people 12 percent of the population are undernourished, (UMNews, 2013). What this really breaks down into is what we do and what we dont get and negatives are hard to quantify so lets start with one of the things we can really see obesity overweight and undernourished. In a 2010 TED Talk Jamie Oliver, celebrity chef and activist delivered a passionate talk on the food system in the United States in which he used obesity and its consequences as an example of the system running rampantly in the wrong direction.

In his talk Oliver dropped a lot of pertinent information: Children today, because of what they are eating, are predicted to have a lifespan 10 years less than their parents 2/3 of North America are obese In the 18 minutes his talk took, 4 Americans died obesity related deaths 10% of U.S. healthcare costs are caused by obesity which totals about $150 billion That $150 billion dollar price tag is set to double in 10 years Diet is the leading cause of death in the United States The biggest difference is that food, when healthy, was fresh and local but now it is poorly labeled and full of additives At one point he shows a video clip of children unable to even identify vegetables in their natural forms and then shared that it only took two 2 hour sessions to fix with education

You can also end up with a weakened immune system, making you more vulnerable to allergies and illness. Mark Holbreich collaborated with German researchers in 2010 and their findings were later published by the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in 2012. They found that 50% of the general population will test positive for an allergy test, 25% of Swiss farm children will test positive, with only 7% of Amish children testing positive. The more exposed to nature, what is natural, or what is raw, both as a developing fetus and a child, the better off the childs immune responses.
To borrow from a 2013, Mother Earth News piece (77) by Megan Phelps: How exactly this works is still unfolding, but exposures early in life, including in the womb, seem to be important. Theres also some question of whether its simply that we are exposed to microbes that matters, or if there are specific protective microbes. Or both. In any case, farms are a great place to study this. The farms are rich in microbial environments, Liu [Dr. Andy Liu at National Jewish Health in Denver] says. A lot of it seems to be related to animals or the other people were around. To the extent that we can quantify microbial burdens, its much higher in farm homes. You also find richer microbial environments in homes with pets or many young children. We didnt evolve for an urban environment. Its not so much what were exposed to thats causing these diseases, its the conditions we evolved with that are now missing.

Going back to the chemical residues you receive from certain food choices, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are bad for our health and the health of the environment, in addition to costing money. In a 2012 statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics advised parents to reduce or eliminate prenatal and early childhood exposure to pesticide because of their association with pediatric cancers, decreased cognitive functioning and behavioral problems, (Star, 82, 2013). Pesticide exposure has been linked to multiple types of cancer from brain to

colon, nervous system damage, reproductive and metabolic problems, diabetes, obesity, several neurological diseases typically associated with aging, and other chronic conditions. Children are particularly susceptible due to their development being in process. With organics and sustainable, positive food choices we avoid all of this. Nothing is a hard thing to quantify, but a happy, healthy life is more meaningful than all the disconnected numbers and statistics anyway. The biggest win with better diet choices and rebooting the food system is what we dont do to the health of ourselves, our environment, and future generations; however, there are a few things that can be documented now. Some fruits contain high levels of antioxidants that have cancer fighting properties. Alpine strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, grapes, and plums can be grown just about anywhere in the U.S. and all of these contain higher than average amounts of antioxidants. Their wide range of growth and availability make them a perfect local or organic choice. Some of the antioxidants found in the 5 fruits: beta-carotene coenzyme Q10 flavonoids glutathione lipoic acid manganese phenols phytoestrogens polyphenols selenium vitamin a vitamin e

This goes well with findings from the Human Nutrition Research Center in the UK who found that organic, on average, contains 12% more defense-related compounds than conventional produce. What You Can Do Its easy, in fact, youve already started. Informing yourself is arguably the most important thing you can do, the second would be actively putting what you learn to work. Some people will give you lists upon lists, I ask you to think about it, where it comes from before you and where it goes after you, does it even leave you? The final component is to share what you find and when you do lead with what you are most interested or excited about because passion is infectious.

References
Alterman, T. (March/April, 2013). 5 antioxidant-rich fruits that grow anywhere. Mother Earth Living, 1(3), 86-87. Also accessible as of 03.05.13 through: http://www.motherearthliving.com/gardening/vegetable-gardening/5-antioxidant-rich-fruitszmgz13mazmel.aspx Alterman, T. (March/April, 2013). Why its still smart to buy organic. Mother Earth Living, 1(3), 5154. Also accessible as of 03.05.13 through: http://www.motherearthliving.com/food-andrecipes/food-for-health/why-eating-organic-is-still-smart-zmfz13mazmel.aspx Baehr, B. (2013, April 16). Whats wrong with our food system. [Downloadable TED Talk]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/birke_baehr_what_s_wrong_with_our_food_system.html Can we feed the world? : UMNews : University of Minnesota. (n.d.). Twin Cities - University of Minnesota. Retrieved March 14, 2013, from http://www1.umn.edu/news/features/2013/UR_CONTENT_430583.html Eskenazi, B., Bradman, A., & Castorina, R. (1999). Exposures of children to organophosphate pesticides and their potential adverse health effects. Environmental Health Perspectives, 107 (supplement 3), 409-419. [UMN Library accessed journal used for research per criteria] Horsemeat: A food safety expert's perspective. (n.d.). Academic Health Center - University of Minnesota . Retrieved March 14, 2013, from http://www.health.umn.edu/healthtalk/2013/02/22/horsemeat-inthe-food-supply/ Oliver, J. (2013, April 16). Jamie Olivers TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food. [Downloadable TED Talk]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html Phelps, M. E. (March/April, 2013). The farm effect. Mother Earth Living, 1(3), 74-78. Also accessible as of 03.05.13 through: currently unable to access some of the articles online. Siple, J. (August 22, 2012). More MN farmers markets accepting EBT. MPR News. Retrieved on 03.06.13 from: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/08/22/more-minnesotafarmers-markets-accepting-ebt

Siple, J. (February 03, 2013). Farm to Cafeteria events planned in MN. MPR News. Retrieved on 03.06.13 from: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/02/03/regional/farm-to-schoolworkshops Siple, J. (March 05, 2013). More fruits, veggies for food stamp recipients goal of MN program. MPR News. Retrieved on 03.06.13 from: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/03/05/news/fruits-veggies-food-stamprecipients Star, L. L. (02.28.13). Donate excess produce to food pantries. Mother Earth Living. Retrieved 03.06.13 from: http://www.motherearthliving.com/in-the-garden/donate-excess-produce-to-foodpantries.aspx Star, L. L. (March/April, 2013). Zero-Waste Gardening. Mother Earth Living, 1(3), 84-85. Also accessible as of 03.05.13 through: http://www.motherearthliving.com/gardening/gardeningtips/zero-waste-gardening-zmgz13mazmel.aspx To protect and defend...our food : UMNews : University of Minnesota. (n.d.). Twin Cities - University of Minnesota. Retrieved March 14, 2013, from http://www1.umn.edu/news/features/2013/UR_CONTENT_434622.html Zerbe, L. (2010). Organic is worth it - and heres why. Rodale: Where health meets green. Retrieved on 03.01.13 from: http://www.rodale.com/organic-food-benefits Zerbe, L. (2011). Lower taxes! And 4 other surprising reasons to save the Earth by going organic. Rodale: Where health meets green. Retrieved on 03.06.13 from: http://www.rodale.com/buy-organic-food