My partner in the participation project is Elizabeth Jorgensen and the social media we are exploring is Pinterest. Things we like about Pinterest are the recipes one can find on the website, the crafts that one can make off Pinterest, and we also like the activities and party ideas one can get from the website. We both participate on Pinterest by pinning pins that catch out eye, are things that we relate to, or pins that we just like. We organize these pins to certain boards that are categorized/named based on what pins are under that board. Some of the boards I have on Pinterest include, Yummy Desserts, Pastaaaaa<3, Healthy and Delicious :), Yummy and Delicious, Fitness, Dream Home, DIY, and several others. Check out all my boards by clicking the link to my Pinterest –> http://www.pinterest.com/tpverne/

Some things we do not like about Pinterest is the fact that some pins do not send you to a website to get whatever recipe, craft, product, etc the pin was advertising. Another thing we dislike is the fact that sometimes when you click on a pin the pin takes you to some website that isn’t even associated with that pin. For example, one might click on a pin that advertises a picture of a yummy looking cupcake thinking they’ll get sent to a website with a recipe for the cupcake, but instead they get directed to a exercise tip website.

Food is incorporated on Pinterest by recipes, health tips about food, and non profit food organizations who have active Pinterest accounts and boards.

On Wednesday September 17th, 2014 Grettie, Tiara, and I went to help out at Peter Paul’s food distribution from 7:45 am to 11:45 am. While there Tiara and I worked with other volunteers to unload the food trucks, organize the food onto the different tables, and we also helped distribute the food to the members of the community who had came that morning. While Tiara and I did this Grettie worked more on the administrative and paper work end. She helped register all the citizens who came that day and help distribute their numbers to them. People could only be registered if they had a certain zip code and each person who was registered had to state how many adults and children were in their household. The food distribution kind of seemed unfair to me because no matter how many people lived in one house there was a set amount of food given to everyone who came in for the distribution that morning. For example, a household of ten people would get the same amount of food as a household with only one person. Another aspect of the food distribution that upset me was the fact that we had to turn people away due to where they lived and because we ran out of sources to give them.

Some of the food they got donated to them that day included whole chicken, lemon slices, lime slices, tomatoes, red peppers, green and red bell peppers, carrots, macaroni salad, lettuce heads, a lot of cantaloupes, a lot of bread, and a plentiful amount of various desserts. Every time a shipment comes in it is determined how much of each food item each family can have. On this distribution day the members of the community were allowed to receive one chicken, either one bag of limes, one bag of lemons, or one bag of carrots. They were also allowed to get one tomato, one cantaloupe, one pepper, one head of lettuce, three bags of bread, and two desserts of their choice. Since there was a limited amount of chickens not everyone who came was able to get one. Also, after everyone went through the line the first time there was still a lot of cantaloupes, multiple bags of lemons and limes, a ton of bread, and a good amount of desserts. People were then aloud to come in who were not registered for the food distribution pick up. Also, the people who were registered and already came in the first time were allowed to come in again and take more of what was left over. After all the food was gone we then helped as a group to clean up the room where we distributed all the food.

Things we can work on for bettering Peter Paul’s food distribution is to try and partner up with more food banks and food donators so less people get turned away. Also, getting more suppliers would help with the fact that they could get more meat to supplies for the people who come to the distribution, because the chicken was the first thing to go. Not even half of the people there for the distributing of the food got chicken. I honestly think that is the only thing we would need to improve, because they have an ample amount of volunteers who run the food distribution it’s just there is not enough food for everyone that comes. If we could get more food suppliers maybe we could then work on making the food distribution happen every Wednesday instead of just every first and third Wednesdays of every month. If you think about it these people truly need help with getting their food and although two distribution days do help I’m sure they run out of food before the next food distribution and that is really concerning. This is especially concerning for families who have young children whose development depends on having a well balanced diet.

-ArsenicalDrugs

• Roxarsone

1. Also P-arsanilic acid, nitarsone, carbarsone, arsanilate sodium

• Additive in poultry and swine feed since the mid-1940s
• Approved for growth promotion, improved pigmentation, coccidiostat, treatment of swine dysentery
• In poultry production: 88% raised using roxarsone

1. 2010 estimate
2. 2012 to ?

• In swine and turkey production: unknown percentage
• Single domestic producer

-Background and Historical Context

• 1944: FDA new animal drug (NADA) 7-891 approval for roxarsone
• 1951: Tolerance levels set by FDA for arsenic residues in meat products (21 CFR 55660)

1. 2 part per million in liver
2. 0.5 part per million in uncooked meat

• 1981: Environmental impact analysis (for FDA)

1. “The only probable adverse effect on the human population arising from the use of 3-nitro premixes (roxarsone) in poultry and swine feeds is the residues of the compound which may be present in the food of man.”

• 1983: NRC develops approach to chemical risk assessment

-The Roxarsone story

-Inorganic Arsenic-Related health effects

• Arsenic is a well-characterized human carcinogen

1. lung, bladder, skin
2. other sites (liver, kidney, and prostate)
3. transplacental carcinogen

• Noncancer health effects

1. cardiovascular disease
2. diabetes mellitus
3. dermal effects
4. neurological effects/ deficits
5. immunotogic effects
6. birth defects
7. respiratory effects
8. renal effects

• Acute toxicity

1. irritation of lungs, throat, stomach, intestines, and skin

-Gaps in knowledge/Remaining questions

• Chicken meal

1. arsenic type?

• Environmental impact

Approximately 11 tons per year, where does it go?

-The Roxarsone Story: 2011 & Beyond

• June 8: FDA announcement and Pfizer suspension also announced

1. press and stakeholder calls

• July 8: Pfizer suspends marketing of roxarsone in the US
• August 29: poultry industry trade groups send letter to margared Hamburg/FDA
• October 13: Zhejiang Rongyao Chemical Co. files a lawsuit (20 million dollars) against Pfizer over roxarsone

1. January 2011 contract

-Regulatory Agencies/ Mechanisms

• Use of roxarsone creates environmental public health issues that extend beyond the jurisdiction of any single federal agency

1. Drugs, environmental exposures, food production, food safety, occupational exposures

• Existing regulatory mechanism that may address some of these issues are often inadequate
• No existing standards addressing arsenic in animal waste
• No indication of further FDA action based on re-evaluation of arsenicals
• Legislative intervention?

-Federal & state legislative initiatives

• Federal bill (introduced by Representative Steve Isveal (D-NY)- the “Poison-free poultry act”

1. HR 3264 (2009-2010)…no vote
2. HR 1497 (2011-2012)
3. Not a lot of progress

• Maryland bills

*2010/2011

1. HB953/HB754 introduced by delegate Thomas Hucker…no vote/no decision
2. SB859/SB417 introduced by Senator Paul Pinskey…no vote/no motion taken

*2012

1. HB167 introduced by delegate Thomas Hucker
2. SB207 introduced by senator Paul Pinsky
3. both actually passed/got signed

-Why was this year different? (2011-2012)

• The state of knowledge has changed

1. FDA study
2. Harry Hughes Center for Agroecology’s December 2011 report

• State of public knowledge and intensity of advocacy coalition/organizing

-Conclusions

• a lack of meaningful regulatory action
• Maryland- a good first step, but we aren’t there
• other states could follow through
• eventual momentum for federal initiative

My thoughts about the video 

Throughout the video I had some of the same thoughts and feelings that I had had throughout the other John Hopkins videos. The video as a whole is shocking and so disturbing that I can’t even begin to imagine these poor animals that are getting abused with these drugs. Along with affecting animals negatively, these drugs also affect us humans in harmful ways. These arsenical drugs can cause us to have serious health problems, some in which being cancer. If we get these complications and we don’t even directly consume these drugs, then imagine what they do to these poor animals. Problems like these need to be publicized and corrected, because it is inhumane and is basically animal cruelty. We obviously still have a tremendous way to go in terms of regulating and improving the food industry for the health of both the animals and the consumers.

Team Building Exercises (Everyone’s ideas)

keondra: going to lunch, going shopping, studying together

liz: going to the village, walking around Carytown, and working out at Cary Street Gym

grettie: Getting sushi, Going to a VCU game, and going shoe shopping

taylor:Going to sugar shack, go to shafer, meet up and talk about our strengths and weaknesses.

tiara: eating at pizza hut in the commons, studying in the library, exploring the campus

aster: exploring Belle Isle, going to The Byrd, and getting bubble tea at TT Lounge

laura: getting our nails done, getting starbucks on campus, and getting lunch at Panera together

Team Building Exercises (What we actually did)

• Starbucks

1. While at Starbucks we talked about our favorite hobbies, childhood memories, goals in life, and about our class schedules. This exercise really focused on our personal traits and helped us get to know each other on a personal level.

• Eating in the commons

1. While eating in the commons we discussed our educational goals, our life goals, and career goals. This exercise really focused more on our professional qualities and future goals and helped us to understand what we are all aiming for in life.

• Exploring the campus

1. While exploring the campus we were all more chill and relaxed. We just talked about random things as if we could tell each other everything. This exercise really helped us become more comfortable with each other as a group.

Fears in a Hat

-Some of the groups fears were…

• Spiders
• Drowning
• Failure

My biggest fears are spiders and failure. As a group we decided that we would all help each other conquer these fears together as group as another team building exercise.

Goals of the Group 

• Help Peter Paul student become more diverse in food education
• We plan to do this by having a “Around the World Food Day”
• The “Around the World Food Day” will consist of different foods made from recipes around the world and have information about that country presented with the food.
• Another idea we have is to make a recipe book for both the kids and their parents consisting of recipes made of the foods that Peter Paul usually gets.
• These recipes will be healthy and help teach the whole family how to eat better with the resources they have available to them.
• Another goal we have with Peter Paul is to go help them at their food truck deliveries on the first and third wednesdays of every month.

-Tiara  is a senior business marketing major graduating in December 2014. Currently, she works at a local hotel as guest service representative. Upon graduation she wishes to advance within her company and either become the sales manager or a part of the marketing team. By taking this class, Ms. Darden hopes to learn more about the culture of food and other aspects of the food industry.

http://rampages.us/foodfordummies

-Aster is a senior majoring in Graphic Design in the VCUarts program. She has interned at Red Chalk Studios (based in Virginia Beach) for two consecutive summer semesters and later plans on working at a design studio after graduation. She plans to graduate in May 2015 to obtain her BFA. She also enjoys cooking, baking, and food photography. Aster hopes to gain more knowledge of the cultural aspects of food through this class.

http://rampages.us/asjbagtas

-Keondra is a senior Psychology major. She is from Nottoway County Virginia. Her main interest with her major is to work with children, their development and possibly research the effects certain situations have on their behavior. She currently lives in Chesterfield County, and works full time for Amazon.com. In the future Keondra hopes to one day open her own Child Development Research Center. She loves shopping, cooking, and spending time with her friends and family.

-Taylor  is a Junior studying psychology here at VCU. She was born and raised in Caroline county, by her mom, Alice, and dad, Robert. Her ultimate goal is to go to grad school, and get a PhD in clinical psychology. Her dream job is to work with geriatrics who deal with anxiety, PTSD, and clinical depression. She is an active member of the National Coeducational Honor Fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi, along with her social sorority Alpha Sigma Alpha. In her spare time she likes to de-stress, by hanging out with friends, working out in the gym, and watching Netflix.

http://rampages.us/vernetp/

-Grettie is a Jersey girl who is now a Junior majoring in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. She recently interned at a local non-profit, Feedmore, which works to feed children, families, and the elderly who live in food deserts. She loves trying new foods, and new experiences in general. Grettie is also a member of VCU ASPiRE, a service learning TA, Recruitment Advisor for Phi Sigma Pi, and an RA in West Grace South. She is excited to see what her junior year has to offer.

http://rampages.us/vonvorysnorm/

-Liz is a senior majoring in Biology and graduating in May 2015. She hopes to attend vet school to obtain her dreams of becoming a veterinarian. She is currently a dog groomer, but enjoys interacting with any kind of animal. She loves the outdoors, trying new things, and being with her family. Liz hopes to learn more about different cultures of food throughout this class.

http://rampages.us/allenen

-Laura is a senior majoring in Fashion Merchandising with a minor general business. She is graduating this December and hopes to work at Disney after she is done with school. She currently works at Nordstrom in short pump. Laura loves kids and is very excited to work with the PPDC and to help the Church Hill community.

http://rampages.us/lbrackett/

*Antibiotics: a landmark in Medical advancement

-Uses of antibiotics and resistance

*Antibiotic uses

• Clinical Medicine
• Animal agriculture

1. Terrestrial
2. Aquaculture

• Other Uses

1. Crop production
2. Ethanol production

*All uses contribute to resistance development

• Some contribute more than others

*The extent of the problem of resistance that can be blamed on antibiotic use in IFAP is unclear

-Antimicrobials registered as feed additives in the US

*Some of these drugs are also used in humans

• Arsenicals
• Polypeptides
• Glycolipids
• Tetracyclines
• Elfamycine
• Macrolides
• Lincosamides
• Inophores
• Penicillins
• Quinoxalines
• Streptogramins
• Sulfonamides

-Antimicrobial Uses

*Multiple purposes (FDA)

• Treatment
• Control
• Prevention
• Production

1. Growth promotion
2. Feed conversion

• 80% of antimicrobials in US are sold for the use in food animal production, where only 20% are used by human medicine

-Antimicrobial Misuse

*Prevention and growth production

• Lower dose
• Longer duration
• Feed and water (16% water and 74% feed and 10% other)
• Limited veterinary oversight

-Origins and perpetuation of resistance

*Primary mechanisms of development and dissemination of resistance

• Natural selection
• Sharing of resistance genes
• Mutagenesis
• Reservoir of resistance

*Recent findings

• Community dynamics

-Horizontal Gene Transfer

• Bacterial transformation
• Bacterial transduction through phage virus infection
• Bacterial conjugation

-Mutagenesis and resistance

*Bactericidal antibiotics

• B-lactams, quinolones, and aminoglycosides

*Application to aerobic bacteria at levels below those that induce selection pressure can make bacteria produce reactive oxygen species (ROS)

• Hydroxyl radical

*ROS can be DNA-reactive and produce point mutations

*Accumulation of mutations in bacteria have been shown to induce the development of mutant strains that demonstrate resistance to multiply drugs

-Reservoir of resistance

• The “Resistome,” share the ability  to be resistant
• Bacteria that are not pathogenic can harbor genes that confer resistance when shared horizontally with other bacteria

-Community Dynamics

• Bacterial altruism
• Bacteria that have mutation allowing drug resistance can share chemical signals with drug susceptible bacteria
• Formally susceptible bacteria can become resistant

-Dose Imprecision

• Most antibiotics in IFAP are administered through feed or water
• Numerous factors influence precision in dose delivery

1. feed quality control
2. behavior of animal production facility workers
3. animal/ herd dynamics
4. drug absorption, pharmacokinetics

• It is unlikely that antibiotics can be delivered at predictable or intended doses through feed

-Dose imprecision may increase resistance development rate

• Over administration can lead to drug residues in food animal products and clinical toxicity in animals
• Under administration can lead to genetic mutations that allow resistance to emerge
• Intermittent dosing in which variability can lead to over and /or under administration that can lead to antimicrobial selection pressure and/or disease treatment failure

-Pathways of exposure to resistant bacteria

• Transport trucks from food processing plant
• Animal production site workers
• Spreading of animal manure on crop fields

-Consequences of resistant infections

*Health and economic burden

• Resistant infections respond poorly to one or more antibiotics and increase mortality risk

1. estimated 19,000 deaths from HAI in 2001
2. extent of burden from animal production not estimated

• Hospital stays are longer and more costly for resistant infections

1. example: MRSA vs MSSA
2. MRSA patients’ hospital stays increased by 14 days
3. their average cost of stay was $45,920 vs $9,699

• Multiple estimates of societal cost of resistant infections

1. IOM (1998) estimated domestic cost to be as high as $30 billion per year

-Danish “Experiment”

• Denmark passed legislation to resist use of non-therapeutic antimicrobials in swine production

1. elimination of GPA use in finishing pigs in 1998, and in weaners in 2000

• Results of the ban have since been evaluated with regards to the changes in antimicrobial use, animal production indices, and animal health

-Results of the Danish GPA ban

• Indicators of animal health have revealed a beneficial effect (weight gain, mortality)
• Total antibiotic consumption has declined by more than 50%
• Reductions in resistance in animal pathogens, indicator bacteria, and zoonotic microorganisms
• Precedent setting: “The United States has an effective model in Denmark to draw upon when it comes to protecting public health.”

-Relevant Domestic Policy

• Animal Drug user fee act (2008)

1. FDA collects and releases aggregated sales data for antibiotics in food animal production

• Preservation in antibiotics for medical treatment act (PAMTA)

1. limits the use of “medically important” antibiotics in food animal production

• Strategies to address antimicrobial resistance act (STAAR)

1. data collection and dissemination regarding antibiotic use in humans and animals
2. funding for interagency task force, “real-time” monitoring

-Conclusions

• Antibiotics are a critical tool in clinical medicine
• The same antibiotics are used in animal agriculture for non-therapeutic purposes
• Antibiotic use in animal agriculture promoter the emergence and propagation of resistant bacteria
• Many environmental pathways exist for the spread of resistant bacteria from animal production sites to people
• Domestic policies have been proposed to address the use of antibiotics in IFAP

My thoughts on the video  

One thing that really stood out to me and honestly made me completely furious is the fact that we sometimes give animals antibiotics for non-therapeutic purposes. To me this is unnecessary and cruel in many ways. First of all, this sort of activity promotes the antibiotic resistance issues that we already have so many problems with. Second of all, this can also lead to a decline in the animals health for something that could have been prevented. Lastly, pumping the animals, animals that we consume, with random antibiotics, used to promote unhealthy weight gain and other things, seem to me that they would make the animal dangerous for us to eat. I mean if you think about it we could possibly get the aftermath of the antibiotic and become resistant that type of antibiotic ourselves. This article honestly just makes me sick. Why can’t we be like Denmark and take a stand on this issue for the sake of the health of our and animals and for the sake of our health.

We meet with Peter Paul on Friday September 5th. The meeting consisted of an orientation of the center and information about how their program ran and some of the programs that go on there. The main things that were discussed was their food distribution program that happens the first and third Wednesday of every month, their mentor program, their gardening program, and the goal of Peter Paul and what they are striving to give the children that go there. One thing we specifically touched on was the children’s education. Most of the children that go to Peter Paul are academically a few grades behind, so it is very important to try and help the children strive in that sense. Some ideas that were brought up for things that we could do as a group were managing social media, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, blog spaces, etc, to get the word of Peter Paul out there, because if we are being honest I had no clue what Peter Paul was or that it even existed until this class so obviously that is a problem. Another idea was to make a simple cookbook for the children and their families consisting of recipes using food that Peter Paul can usually give out at their food distributions. Another fun idea would be to bring in more exotic, less accessible, food for the kids so they can learn about different areas of the world where these foods grow and about the places culture. For example we could bring in a starfruit, something that is native to places like  Philippines, Indonesia ,Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, and Sir Lanka. Another idea is that we could cook food for the children using recipes from different places and cultures around the world. For example, we could make crepes with them, something that originated from France. So yeah! That’s basically the gist of the Peter Paul meeting! I am super excited to start working with staff and children of this wonderful institution! Stay tuned for more Peter Paul updates and pictures!

-What are we feeding food animals?

• Antimicrobials/antibiotics and synthetic hormones
• Animal waste
• By-products of slaughtered animals and “rendered” animals
• Waste from industrial processes

-There are 9.1 billion food animals being produced per year

-How much animal waste?

• Animal waste generated each year- 287 million dry tons
• This waste is UNTREATED
• Animal waste applied to land per year- 270 million dry tons

-How much human waste?

• Human waste generated each year- 6.9 million dry tons
• This waste is TREATED
• Human waste applied to land per year- 3.9 million dry tons
• Approximately 1 dry tn of animal waste is generated for every US citizen

-What’s in animal waste?

• Bacteria
• Protozoa
• Viruses
• Animal dander
• Pharmaceuticals
• Heavy metals
• Hormones (natural and synthetic)
• Nutrients
• Parasites

-What happens to the waste?

• Applied to agricultural land
• Store it to reduce pathogens
• Store it in fields
• Poultry waste incinerators for energy
• Fertilizer
• Fed back to animals

-From waste to water, air, and soil

• Land application of waste
• Failed storage system
• Waste incineration
• Animal-house ventilation
• Direct (illegal) releases into surface waters
• groundwater constitutes 40% of public water supplies and 97% of rural water supplies…this can lead to human exposure to waste contaminates

-Other transport mechanisms

• Ventilation fans
• Poultry transport trucks, usually have bacteria resistant to antibiotics
• Workers
• Flies
• The meat itself

-Occupational Exposures (Front lines of exposure)

• 5,000,000 workers
• No federal oversight
• Personal protective equipment
• Decontamination facilities
• Workers and families

-Air quality concerns

• Releases of airborne contamination from production sites

1. Gases, Ammonia, hydrogen, sulfide
2. Volatile organic compounds, poultry houses (mixture of about 60 unique VOCs), swine production facilities (330 unique VOCs)
3. Particulates
4. Microorganisms
5. Endotoxins
6. Animal dander

• Health relevance of some is established less clear for others
• Single pollutant exposure versus mixtures

-Community exposures and effects (mainly rural)

• Increased exposure to IFAP operation-borne contaminants

1. Asthma prevalence, hospitalizations
2. Allergy and eye, nose, and throat irritation
3. Mental health endpoints

• Odors

1. Compromised quality of life

• Economic effects

1. Direct property damage
2. Housing values

-Challenges in characterizing public health impact

• Characterization of cumulative effects of stressors

1. Chemical, microbial, social, economic

• Multiple, diverse exposed populations

1. Workers, fence line and surrounding communities, consumers
2. Relating adverse effects to exposures

• Integrated nature of animal production

1. Gaps in current state of knowledge are extremely difficult to fill

• No clear answers

1. Though burden is borne by the public- externalities to production process
2. Disproportionate buren on rural communities

My thoughts on the article

What concerns me the most about this article is the fact that we feed the animals, animals that we EAT, rendered animals and animal waste. FIrst of all, in my opinion that’s animal cruelty. Would you like to be fed rendered human or human waste? Yeah I didn’t think so. Second of all, if we are eating these animals then why wouldn’t we want to feed them quality food in order to have a better product of meat in the long run? Also, I’m wondering what we feed the animals that are later on classified as organic meats in  grocery stores. Another thing that bothers me in this article is the fact that there are so many problems with contamination and public health safety. It should the food industry’s main priority to protect the health of their workers and the surrounding communities of their meat production locations. Food industries also should make it a priority to try and reduce the air pollutants that are produced from their factories. Overall I just feel like the food industry should hold themselves to higher health and environmental standards. If they cannot reach these standards themselves then our federal government should step up and regulate these things better than they’re being regulated now, because our health and quality of environment depends on it.

-Rationale for Industrialization of Food Systems

• “Free” Americans from farm labor
• Make food and farming cheaper
• encourage consumerism

-Early US industries

• Chicago’s Union Stock Yards opened in 1865
• It was one of the biggest meat production industries in the country at the time and one of the first US industries
• Chicago’s Union Stock Yards also inspired Henry Ford to industrialize the automobile
• The second largest meat hacking company at the time was in Baltimore

-Themes of Industrialization

• Specialization
• Mechanization
• Standardization
• Technology, Inputs
• Economies of scale
• Consolidation
• Concentration

-Specialization

• Idea that operations operate more efficiently by focusing on the skills needed to perform fewer tasks.
• US crop production today is characterized by highly specialized genetic uniformed corn and soybean monoculture.

-Mechanization

• The replacement of human and animal labor with machinery

-Standardization

• Uniformed practice, standardized size, weight, and consistency
• Animals are grown to a certain size and then slaughtered
• Fast food restaurants around the globe have standardized food shape and size, example, McDonalds

-Technology, Inputs

• Capitalizes on new technologies
• Poultry industry now have specialized food and advanced breeding techniques that decrease the time it takes chickens to reach market weight.
• Chickens can now be at twice the weight in half the time, using half the food amount as they needed in the 1930s compared to the 1990s
• Production of crops are now more dependent on inputs, such as, pesticides, fossil fuels, etc
• Over 60 years, use of agricultural chemicals have increased by 5 fold.
• Food and animal productions have introduced things such as hormones to make animals grow faster

-Economies of Scale

• Operations grew bigger as the food industry became more industrialized and capitalized
• Mass production raises concerns of food safety and occupational hazards
• Poultry processing industries now have pressure to put out high volume of chicken for sale

-Consolidation

• A trend toward larger, but fewer facilities
• Since the 1950s the average farm has more than doubled in size and employ only about 1/8th of the number of employees than they used too
• There are less than half as many farms as there used to be

-Concentration

• Extent of which small number of cooperations control the sales
• Concentration in the food system raises concern of the power of the small number of industries that influence how much food is produced and who provides it

-The Result of Industrialization

• US successful in providing tremendous amounts of food with minimal amount of labor and at lower prices
• Since the 1950s to the 2000s, production doubled with half the labor and consumer calories increased by 20%
• This success does not reflect the animal cruelty, damage to the environment, and concern for our health

-Pesticide Exposure Risks

• Cancers
• Reproductive harms
• Endocrine disruption
• Nervous system impacts
• Acute poisonings
• Death

-Pesticide Ecosystem Impacts

• Declining pollinator populations
• Compromised immune systems in dolphins, seals, whales
• Deformities, sex reversals in amphibians

-Synthetic Fertilizers

• May deplete organic matter
• Dead zones

-Resource Depletion

• Topsoil
• Ground water
• Fossil fuels
• Mineral fertilizers
• Feed conversion inefficiency

-Loss of Domestic Biodiversity

• Irish potato famine, mid 1800s
• 1 million die of famine
• Little genetic variation in potato crops

-Climate Change

• Greenhouse gas emissions from US food supply chains

My Thoughts on the Video It  concerns me that the food industry is so into how much they produce and how cheap they can get it done rather than how safe the working conditions are for their workers and how healthy the food is that they put out. It also disgusts me how awful the food industry treats the animals used in production. I understand that these animals are going to be slaughtered in the end anyway, but keeping them in cages, pumping them with hormones, and feeding them food manufactured to make them plump up twice as fast rather than food that actually nourishes them is just cruel. I also disagree with all the pesticides being used in crop production. Although this does cause the plants to grow faster and larger, it is not healthy for consumption. When we eat these crops we ingest the chemicals that have been sprayed on the plants. Ingesting these chemicals could end up causing health problems later down the road, problem that could have been avoided if pesticides were not used. Another concern of mine is the fact that almost all of the small farms have disappeared due to them not being able to compete with the more industrialized farms. It almost seems like we’re losing a part of our past time by losing these farms because if you think about it that was one of the major occupations in the early US. In the end I wish our country as whole would realize that yes industrialization has helped us better ourselves economically as a country, but should we just worry about how it is economically pleasing to perform such actions in the food industry? Personally I would answer no. I believe it would be in everyone’s best health and interest if we spent less time worried about the economic stand point and focus more on a healthier manufacturing stance.

” A forced consumption episode was defined as a situation where Person(s) A forced or demanded Person B to consume a specific substance against Person B’s will…One hundred forty individuals completed a follow-up questionnaire exploring various characteristics of their most memorable forced consumption scenario. Specifically, the most common type of forced consumption (76%) involved an authority figure (e.g. parent, teacher) forcing a child to consume a novel, disliked, or aversive food. In this authority figure scenario, respondents recalled the episode as involving interpersonal conflict and negative affect, and identified the most aversive aspects of this scenario as lack of control and feelings of helplessness. ” Forced consumption is real, it is cruel, and it happens everywhere. As a child I went through a phase of picky eating, I would be stubborn about eating what my mother had made that night on more than one occasion. This tended to frustrate my parents and although they did sometimes argue with me and strongly encourage me to eat what was served that night, they never physically forced me to eat the food. At the time it was annoying to both my parents and myself, but I could not even begin to imagine what it would have been like if they had physically forced me to eat the food. When reading this article it saddened me that people actually would feed someone against their own will. I could only imagine the physical pain the individual underwent, not to mention the mental struggles the individual is most likely living with after the fact. How could another individual think it is their right to perform this action on another human being? How do they not think it would not affect the individual in either physical or mental ways, or both. Actions like these are probably contributing factors to mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, and cibophobia, the fear of food. Cibophobia can lead to a serious problem with anorexia and other eating disorders, something that affects more than 24 million people in the US. Actions like these should not be tolerated as it is only brings negative outcomes to the victim. As food advocates we should make it a point to stand up, raise awareness of such tragedies, and defend the victims of these cruel crimes with a goal to end these events altogether.