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kalikshama -> RE: Is Sugar Toxic? (1/14/2012 5:03:03 PM)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omnivore%27s_Dilemma
Industrial
Pollan begins with an exploration of the food-production system from which the vast majority of American meals are derived. This industrial food chain is largely based on corn, whether it is eaten directly, fed to livestock, or processed into chemicals such as glucose[citation needed], often in the form of high-fructose corn syrup, and ethanol. Pollan discusses how the corn plant came to dominate the American diet through a combination of biological, cultural, and political factors. He visits George Naylor's corn farm in Iowa to learn more about those factors. He mentions the fact that human cultivation of corn has greatly benefited the plant, and that corn has come to depend on humans for its survival. He explains that the "cob and husk arrangement... renders the plant utterly dependent for its survival on an animal in possession of the opposable thumb needed to remove the husk, separate the seeds, and plant them" (26-27). [1] The role of petroleum in the cultivation and transportation of the American food supply is also discussed.
A fast food meal is used to illustrate the end result of the industrial food chain. Pollan is highly critical of the industrial model of agriculture. He describes how scientific innovations such as the creation of the Haber process to fix nitrogen allowed a widespread simplification of agriculture. He argues that at one time, farmers applied a cultural knowledge to the growth of plants, but that this "intelligence and local knowledge" (220) [1] has since been removed from their farms and put into the laboratory. He believes that this is a negative development, and that a return to localized agriculture would solve many of the health and environmental problems that have resulted from modern agricultural practices.
In addition to visiting Naylor's corn farm in Iowa, Pollan spends time in a feedlot, observing the conditions in which a steer is kept prior to slaughter. He explains that the steer is fed a corn-based diet, which has a detrimental affect on an animal designed to consume grass. Pollan claims that this unnatural diet detracts from the nutritional value of the meat produced from the steer, not to mention the quality of life of the animal. Additionally, Pollan explains that the excessive use of antibiotics in these feedlots has led to mad-cow disease and drug resistant microbes, neither of which would have become issues if cows were allowed to live under more natural conditions (78). [1]
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