Entry #7

 

Consumers Beware

    I’ve never actually sat down and gave deep thought as to how we get our food. The film Fresh matters and has made a huge different in how I see things when grocery shopping. This film sheds let on the farming industry and is targeting consumers to try to persuade them to buy from local farmers. It is important to shop local from your local farmers markets because the quality of meat is worth the higher price then it would be buying from a large grocery store. After seeing the care these farmers give to the cows, chickens and pigs makes perfect sense why we would benefit from purchasing from local farmers instead of feed lots. Hearing about the horror that goes on in the feed lots is terrifying and sickening.

 

    The sanitation problems that come from feed lots and how many different diseases like E. coli, salmonella, and mad cow disease and that these diseases kill people is unsettling. Learning that cows were fed dead cows that lead to the mad cow disease is heartbreaking to hear that animals must endure this kind of treatment. Not only are the animals not treated properly, but farmers are also having to use pesticides to be able to grow the most produce as possible. The idea of pesticides on the food we eat is concerning as it is not good for the environment, the farmers, consumers, and rural communities. Not only are there sanitation problems, diseases spread throughout the livestock but now these issues fall into an even bigger issue which is pollution.

 

    It is critical that Americans are made aware of all these concerning conditions when it comes to the meat and produce that we eat. Things like added hormones and antibiotics given to animals in feed lots should be taken seriously the next time consumers go grocery shopping at large branch chain grocery stores instead of buying from local farmers. Americans should care about what is happening to the raise the food that we eat and how it can affect consumers. The known fact that these issues can kill a consumer should be enough for Americans to make a change on who or where they buy their meat and produce from. Joe Salatin made a very important statement that he says his father would say which is “if you’re committed to healing the land then you can do something different” and that could not be more accurate.