How Politics Influences the Kind of Food Grown or Consumed in Australia and in the Entire Globe - Essay Example

Food and Politics   Food and Politics Introduction The most pervasive and central economic system in the world is the food system. The system consists of different components still interdependent. A third of the food produced in both developed and developing nations go to waste (Nestle, 2003). Food system is perceived to be an enormous success in the global economy. This can be observed by the fact that despite such waste of food, it is easy for billions of human beings around the globe to be supplied with enough food to consume on daily needs. The success of this system in the industrialized nations is such the system has evolved to become a marvel of diversity, abundance, and low-cost efficiency. However, despite its successes, the food system is seen to still leave a lot to be desired as it is estimated that about eight hundred million people most of whom are situated in poor countries actually lack the necessary access to the food that they happen to require. The deficiencies that are witnessed in the global food system have caused malnutrition and undernourishment to now be classified as being the leading causes of both death and illness on the planet (Nestle, 2003) In the United States, an estimated about 325,000 people are hospitalized, and as many as 5,000 die because of ingesting viral and bacterial pathogens. The inadequacies noted to be inherent in the food system and concerns over the food that are consumed in the country have resulted in the society and the political system calling for the reversal of the consumption of unhealthy food options that are very much become a part of the our culture. The following paper discusses how politics influences the kind of food grown or consumed in not only in Australia but also in the entire globe. Food and Politics Individuals have a legal right to grow and eat almost any food that they may want, and people are now discovering that food has a lot to do with politics. According to Burros (2006), in today’s world where people are increasingly feeling more distant from the global forces that they perceive to be controlling their lives, most people are now taking action and doing the little they can by essentially voting with their trolleys and selecting healthier food options. Governments around the world are now increasingly becoming more active in calling for the adoption of healthier food options into the modern day culture. One of the biggest food challenges facing Australia today is the problem of obesity, and the country ranks highly among countries that have been affected by the condition (Moreno et al., 2011). The country has over the years adopted a number of unhealthy eating habits that when assimilated into its culture, have resulted in a situation whereby it is now estimated that more than 25% of the children and 60% of the adults in the country are classified as either being obese or overweight (The Department of Health, 2013). This has necessitated that the government makes a number of political interventions in an effort to try correcting this problem. In what is a concerted effort to assist the health outcomes of obese and overweight Australians, the Department of health has funded efforts aimed at reviewing and updating the guidelines it has provided to help in governing obesity and overweight for children, adults and adolescents in the country. It is expected that the revised guidelines will provide updated, detailed and evidence-based guidance to all the clinicians in the country on how they can best be able to access and manage patients reported as being obese or overweight (The Department of Health, 2013). Another current raging political debate over food in Australia is about if it is healthy or unhealthy to fully integrate organic foods or genetically modified foods (The Department of Health, 2013). Given the centrality of food to our lifestyles and existence, it is rather unsurprising that there is a raging debate over how our food is grown with one side in support of organic farming and the other in support of genetically modified (GM) crops. In an effort to ensure that the GM foods that are produced in the country are safe for human consumption, the Australian and New Zealand governments have formed the Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) to act as a regulatory body. FSANZ is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that all the GM foods that are produced to be consumed in these two countries are not only safe, but also as nutritious as their conventionally grown counterparts are (Hodge et al., 2007). Although there are a number of scientific studies that have been conducted to determine the effect of GM foods on human health, there are currently no long-term studies that have been conducted to show the effect of organics on human health. Further, the GMO politics have been here for a while. There have been those countries in support of GMO and those who oppose it (Barrett et al, 2013). Much has been said on how these types of foods can ensure the world is food secure. This argument has been met with the contrasting view of how GMO affects human health in various ways. In allowing GMO foods to be produced and sold in the country, the Australian government was forced to consider the changing climatic conditions and ever-growing human population in the world, food security will continue to become more of issue. Although Australia will be able to continue providing food for its citizens despite the world’s changing climate and growing population, it is expected that some foods will eventually become too expensive and in some overseas countries, poor people might suffer and especially so those that are living within cities. People living in developing countries will face price shocks similar to those experienced in 2008 that caused incidences of rioting around the world (Moreno, A. L., Pigeot, I., & Ahrens, W.2011) GM crops promise to forestall the development of such a situation by improving the quantity of food that is produced. The Australian beef industry recently found itself in a crisis after China banned the importation of chilled Australian beef citing that it was concerned about food safety. Australia’s trade minister acknowledged that China had indeed queried the standards of Australian beef and pointed out that he was currently working to ensure that the issue is resolved. He argued that Australia has over the years managed to build up a reputation that is the best in the standards. In 2013, the shipment of Chilled beef to China is estimated to have surged by about 873 percent from the previous year, and it provided a large market for Australian chilled beef (The Department of Health, 2013). The Australian red meat industry is strongly committed to the quality and safety of meat products produced in the country and each state has set in place its own animal welfare Act and accompanying regulations. Conclusion Although the culture is invariably a difficult concept to describe, its importance is not diminished as it is identified as playing a major role in the influencing and shaping the politics of food. The issues surrounding food and politics are quickly emerging as a dominant issue in today’s culture. Most of the actors that are present in the politics of food and food safety can neither be classified as being heroes nor villains; instead, they are simply actors in what is a rather complicated social system with diverse motivations and interests. According to Nestle, most governments around the world are working to implement better policies and measures to regulate the quality of the foods that are consumed by them. This will ensure that the world population is protected from harmful food materials.   References Barrett, C. B & Oxford University (2013). Food security and socio-political stability. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Burros, M. (2006). You Are What You Eat: 2006 and the Politics of Food. Retrieved on Jan 17, 2015 from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/dining/27food.html?_r=0 Hodge, G. A., Bowman, D., & Ludlow, K. (2007). New global frontiers in regulation: The age of nanotechnology. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Moreno, A. L., Pigeot, I., & Ahrens, W. (2011). Epidemiology of obesity in children and adolescents: Prevalence . New York: Springer. Nestle, M. (2003). Safe Food: Bacteria, biotechnology, and bioterrorism (Vol. 5). University of California Press. The Department of Health. (2013). Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, Adolescents and Children in Australia. Tiffen, R., & Gittins, R. (2004). How Australia Compares. 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