Regulation of Fast Food - Research Paper Example

Regulation of Fast Food In nonprofessional terms, the term ‘fast food’ refers to any kind of meal than can be prepared and served in less time (Reynolds, pp 22-25). It often includes items, such as fried chicken, burgers, sandwiches, hotdogs, etc, which are prepared using precooked and greasy ingredients. It is an observation that mostly, it is the youngsters and teenagers of a country that consume these foods. Due to lack of time, and the fast pace of modern life, we often try to catch up on time lost by taking ready to eat fast food meals, which in turn, has proven to be harmful for us. The preparation of fast food also may involve using high amounts of oil and unhealthy ingredients, which thus raise the question as to weather the consumption of fast food, should be under regulation or control of the government. Moreover, many ingredients used in the preparation of fast food are hardly worth being used in human food since they are extremely unhealthy and unfit. Research (Reynolds, pp 40-55) carried out has shown that by the year 2050, one in every three Americans will be suffering from diabetes due to high consumption of fast food (Reynolds, pp 43-58). Many efforts and plans have previously been under action in order to control the consumption of such meals. Some diseases included in the never-ending list of diseases caused by extensive intake of fast food include, cholesterol, cancer, heart diseases and diabetes. Additionally, it causes people to become overweight which in turn increases health insurance costs. Considering the situation mentioned above, it is thus quite important that the government take some action to provide a healthy lifestyle to its people and nation. This is because, as the head of the state or country, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that it guides the people following it, on the straight path and leads them towards what is correct (Allen & Albala, pp. 88-97). This is because it is the job of the government to step in and control matters when the public fails to do so. Of course, it is impossible to completely ban fast food restaurants or the consumption of fast food either, but surely the consumption of such meals can be controlled or monitored. This can be done by limiting the number of fast food restaurants operating in the country and issuing cards to every citizen having the ability to consume fast food. Thus, every time the person consumes fast food a check mark can be put and thus, their intake of such foods can easily be under regulation. Children at school are seen mostly surviving on fast food, and parents are not able to do much about it since they themselves are so busy with work and other responsibilities. Parents themselves consume excessive amounts of fast food and their children just follow them in doing so (Allen & Albala, pp. 105-132). Now, if the government will not take control of the situation then who will take it is the question. On the contrary, there are many people who do not agree with my stance and believe that the government should stay out of their business and let them lead their own lives and raise their children their own method. They believe that there should be freedom to eat what one wants and that no one can be stopped from doing wrong things since they all live in a free country and have certain right s that should not be taken away from them. Most people want to be free to choose what they eat and do with their life and believe it is surely not the business for the government to keep a track of what they are eating and in what quantity (Allen & Albala, pp. 100-122). These people believe that issues that are more important need attention from the government at this time, as compared with focusing on people’s consumption of fast food. Moreover, putting this idea into action and regulating the intake of fast food may take large sums of money and will take a long time to be put into effect, along with all the red tape and staff that will be involved in doing so. A better option here would be to reduce the amount of unhealthy ingredient used in the preparation of fast food. This would reduce the harmful consequences of such meals, while at the same time, giving people the right amount of freedom they deserve to choose what they eat. Some people believe also that a similar campaign to the ‘Stop Smoking ‘campaign should be brought into action in order to only make people aware of what they are eating and warn them about the dangers of fast food consumption ,but it should not be regulated (Allen & Albala, pp. 130-144). The paper surely does not agree with these people and strongly support the idea of the government regulating the intake of fast food, as it is an observation that fast food causes numerous health problems and has a never-ending list of drawbacks to it. In such a situation, it is surely the governments’ responsibility to control food options in the country, in order to avoid health problems and many other probable problems. If the citizens of a country are eating fast food too often, and this is going to harm their health and other aspects of their life, the government has a right to take control and maintain the strength of the country by keeping its citizens healthy and helping them live a safe and healthy life. Even though the government of every country has bigger fish to fry and serious issues to look into than the intake of fast food by its countries citizens, little things put together can make a huge difference. Due to this, minor things like the topic under discussion should definitely not go overlooked, and the government must surely intervene when it finds its people working towards their own destruction, in turn leading to destruction for the country as a whole. Works Cited Allen, Gary. J., Albala, Ken. The Business of Food. ABC-CLIO, 2007. Reynolds, Christopher. Public Health Law and Regulation. Federation Press, 2004. Read More