Cases When Corporations Are Responsible for Unhealthy Relationship of People with Food - Case Study Example

Name: University: Instructor: Date: Analysis Paper Introduction Commendable corporations as per Chouinard, Ellison and Ridgeway (2) have initiated exciting initiatives; however, the negative effects of business activity have continued to increase. In this case, Chouinard, Ellison and Ridgeway (2) posit that it by and large cheaper to purchase a product such as junk food, but the impact to the individual is worse. What’s more, high cost to planet fails to translate to high charges to customer, and this is because of the fact that companies are hardly ever indebted to pay for the negative effects they cause to people and the world in general. Since scores of these impacts have not been easy to measure with any accuracy or to allocate to entity businesses with equality. The kind of societies scores of us dwell in is packed with the promotion of unhealthy foods, and so Pollan maintains that the world must change if we all desire to defend humanity from more heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, as well as from the psychological illnesses that addictive marketing together with sugar are now causing. Undoubtedly, the Fast food companies that adjust to such changes and provide healthier food are in the best position to thrive in the future. The essay examines some of the various unhealthy ways that Americans interact with our food, whether corporations are primarily responsible for this unhealthy relationship people have with food and if making food in more sustainable ways could help Americans as well as the planet. Discussion The rates of Diet-related chronic disease and obesity are growing in the United States, whilst the public’s health is additionally endangered by growing antibiotic resistance; pathogens as well as chemicals contaminating our water and food; climate change; and exhaustion of natural resources;. Such threats as per Chouinard, Ellison and Ridgeway have large economic, social, and human costs that are unfairly distributed, cumulative, and growing. All of these issues are connected to food with regard to what people eat and how the food is produced and processed. The industrial food system in United States offers ample, comparatively low-priced food, however, much of these foods are unhealthy, and according to Norris the system is not sustainable. Even though the majority of US food consumption takes place within the aforementioned system, alternatives that are more sustainable and healthier are progressively more accessible. What remains evident is that scores of the foods present in American markets are causing more harm to American’s health. For instance, because of unhealthy food it is largely projected that, nearly 1.5 billion adults globally, as of 2008, were overweight, and an additional 500 million were obese. What’s more, in US 33% of children are at the moment obese or overweight. The basis of this setback is as well obvious: the stiff competition in the marketplace is compelling Fast food companies to produce and promote addictive foodstuffs, overstocked with fat, salt, sweeteners, as well as refined carbs, and time and again packed with calories. Nevertheless, that is the means used by American companies to maximize profits, and so if a company fails to do it, its competitors will, and ultimately will take over the market. Basically, chronic exposure to extremely appetizing foods alters our way of thinking, conditioning us to look for unrelenting craving for unhealthy foods. Eventually, a commanding drive for a recipe salt, fat, and sugar battles with our attentive ability to decline unhealthy foods, writes Pollan. The outcome is that many individuals are at the moment obsessed to unhealthy foods, whilst leading an inactive lives “eating” what is advertised electronically. Food companies spend billions of dollars annually on advertising and promotions, for instance, McDonald spent a staggering $1.8 billion attempting to nurture an image of being a 'green' as well as 'caring' company, and that it is an entertaining place to eat. As a result, children are enticed in with the promise of playing toys along with other attention-grabbers. However, behind these attention-grabbing advertisements and promotions, the food companies’ are undoubtedly just interested in making profits from whatever and whoever and they can, in what DeAngelis terms as Corporate-driven consumerism. For instance, the Annual Reports of McDonald touch on 'Global Domination; the company intend to open more other stores all over the world, however, their incessant global expansion signifies more consistency, less preference as well as the weakening of local communities by selling unhealthy foods. McDonald's advertise their food as healthy, but the fact remains that most of their food is junk; high in sugar, fat, and salt, and low in vitamins as well as fiber. According to Norris, the kind of diet offered by Macdonald, KFC, and other fast food restaurant chains present greater risk of diabetes, cancer, heart disease as well as other diseases. Their food as well has lots of chemical preservatives, a number of which can lead to hyperactivity and ill-health, mainly in children. Research proves that when Fast food companies are advertising they mostly target children, who as a result, make lifelong and profoundly held arousing connections to the promoted brand. Therefore this type of promotion makes the children to make long-standing food preferences at a extremely early age. Fast food companies are not just making their lifelong consumers from children, but they possess the capability to target the kids through intergenerational brand preferences.  Food production and processes have a noteworthy impact on our environmental and greenhouse footprint since natural resources such as water, soil as well as energy are utilised for producing harvesting, conveying, processing, packing up, delivering as well as promoting all food products. Therefore, when people wasted food, the invested resource and energy used to distribute food to people’s food store is wasted. For instance, in Australia the food supply chain is liable for almost 24% of total greenhouse gas emissions in Australia; thus, it comes second subsequent to power stations in emissions generating activity. This consists of direct emissions from those characterized by food production and processing as well as distribution and transport. Therefore, by trading our uneconomical habits such as food wasting for an approach that is more sustainable like buying, and handling our food, then we all can play a role in giving rise to considerable greenhouse as well as environmental benefits. Besides that, food companies must espouse sustainable food consumption and production approach that is consumer-driven, which will involve integrated espousal of sustainable patterns of food production and consumption, valuing the natural ecosystems’ carrying capacities (Hamblin). This requires deliberation of every phase and aspect in the life of the food product, that it is to say from production stage to consumption, and entails issues like food recycling and waste management, food losses, sustainable lifecycles and diets, as well as behaviors that are environmentally friendly and techniques that reduce negative effects on the environment and will not put in danger the desires of future as well as present generations. Conclusion In conclusion, it has been argued that consumer choice plays a crucial part in production orientation, as customers choose certain categories of food product with regard to processes of production. Consumers as well put forth firm influences based on their food purchase pattern, and how they consume their food. What’s more, it has been established that food consumption is influenced by a broad scope of attributes, which includes, food accessibility, food availability as well as food preference. Unhealthy eating habits consist of over- or under- eating, lack of adequate healthy foods we require daily, or eating foods, which are high in sugar, salt and/or fat or low in fiber. Such unhealthy habits can have an effect on people nutrient consumption, as well as carbohydrates, energy protein, vital fatty acids, fiber and vitamins. Work Cited Chouinard, Yvon, Jib Ellison and Rick Ridgeway. "The Sustainable Economy." Harvard Business Review (2011): 1-12. DeAngelis, Tori. Consumerism and its discontents. June 2004. 23 June 2014. . Hamblin, James. The Toxins That Threaten Our Brains. 18 March 2014. 23 June 2014. . Norris, John. Make Them Eat Cake: How America is exporting its obesity epidemic. 3 September 2013. 23 June 2014. . Pollan, Michael. Unhappy Meals. 28 January 2007. 23 June 2014. . Read More