BLOG ENTERY: 10

Title:   Consequences of Food Hazards and Preventions

 Introduction 

1. Possible "Hook" to get the reader interested? 

One of the major significant developments in human growth has been farming. Since the advent of farming and domestication techniques, Homo sapiens gave up a nomadic hunter and gatherer system to live in close proximity to farm animals

 2. Definition of Issue or Problem: 

 WHO defines food hazard as “biological, chemical or physical agent in, or condition of, food with the potential to cause an adverse health effect” (WHO). Organic farming is an agricultural method of naturally growing food without the use of chemicals, biotechnology and processing in factories.

“Factory farming is a modern type of agriculture and raising livestock’s which requires huge amounts of capitals, large farm lands and minimum labor. Animals are crowded into confined facilities and raised on limited lands, with no excess to fresh air, grasses and sunlight. Using pesticides, chemicals and machinery to grow crops and eliminate intense labor” (The matrix issue).  

Slaughterhouses are facilities where animals are slaughtered for meat and packed for consumptions.

 3. Claim or Call to Action:

 In this way, we can avoid harming our bodies and consume safe and healthy organically farmed products to prevent incurable food borne diseases caused by viruses like E. Coli and Salmonellosis found in factory made products.

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4. Main Point, Idea, or Issue: 
Food contamination and outbreak of illness caused by E.Coli and Salmonellosis.

5. Supporting Information:

Background on the diseases, where and how does this diseases spread. Spreading of diseases from factory farms and slaughterhouses.

 6. Supporting Details or Data: 

Example of people who get sick and statistic of people dying every year.

"In 2006, an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to Dole bagged spinach led to 205 illnesses, 103 hospitalizations, and 5 deaths. The outbreak spanned 49 states and Canada and took a huge economic toll on the spinach and leafy greens industry due to consumer uncertainty inside and outside U.S. borders” (Bill Marler, Food and the Global supply chain).

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7. Main Point, Idea, or Issue: 

Description and details on Escherichia Coli O157:H7 and Salmonellosis. The two deadly life threatening food borne viruses.

 8. Supporting Information: 

In the Infectious Diseases Sourcebook by Karen Bellenir “Escherichia Coli O157:H7 is described as one of the hundreds of strains of bacterium Escherichia coli. Although most strains are harmless and live in the intestines of healthy humans and animals, this strain produces a powerful toxin called ‘Shiga Toxin’ and can cause severe illness” (Bellenir 75).

Salmonellosis, is an infection with bacteria called Salmonella; it also causes diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps.

 9. Supporting Details or Data: 

 In children under the age of five and the elderly, the infection can also cause serious illness called “hemolytic uremic syndrome in which the red blood cell are destroyed and the kidney’s fail”

In 2007, ConAgra peanut butter was recalled and the “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration announced that there had been 628 confirmed cases of Salmonella infection in 41 states from August 2006 through May 2007” (Bill Marler, Food and the Global supply chain).

 
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10. Main Point, Idea, or Issue: 

Taking preventive measure can help each individual and community to lower the risk of such deadly diseases.

 11. Supporting Information: 

Following simple everyday steps such as washing hands with soap and warm water before eating and preparing food.  

 

12. Supporting Details or Data: 

By improving farm animal hygiene, in slaughter plant practices, and in vegetable and fruit harvesting and packing operations. Better education of food industry workers and clean working conditions can also prevent outbreak of diseases (Bellenir 78,118).

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13. Main Point, Idea, or Issue: 

Additives and fertilizers: Chemicals used in food flavoring and growing are also a leading cause of food borne illness.

 

14. Supporting Information: 

Schlosser presents the example of factories in New Jersey, where new flavor additives are made using all sorts of chemicals and dyes in factories (Schlosser 120).

For example DDT, a chemical fertilizer once used throughout America caused cancers and other deadly illnesses.

 15. Supporting Details or Data: 

The article When it Pays to buy Organic reports out that new evidence shows that contrary to previous scientific belief, pesticides in a woman’s bloodstream can be passed to a fetus in the womb (When it Pays to  buy Organic).

 

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16. Main Point, Idea, or Issue: Alternative to factory farmed products. Ex Organic food , growing own food and awareness of eating healthy food.

 

17. Supporting Information: 

Organic food is healthier and does not harm our body as compared to artificially grown conventional food.

 18. Supporting Details or Data: 

“A study published in the Journal of Applied Nutrition (1993) found that organically grown food, on average, was 63 per cent higher in calcium, 73 per cent higher in iron, 118 per cent higher in magnesium, and 125 per cent higher in potassium” (Davidson 15).

 
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19. Main Point, Idea, or Issue: Organic food, farmer’s market and conclusion.

 20. Supporting Information: 

Processed food travels a great mile before ending up in our dinner plate. People can also visit local farms and look at the conditions in which the crops are cultivated, harvested and packed.

For Example, the farmers market in Union Square and Elmhurst, where fresh produce is available every day during the summer season.  

 

21. Supporting Details or Data: 

 For example in New York many apartments have rooftop farming systems where people grow organic foods. Total vegan or vegetarian, eating vegetable and plant products can avoid meat, sea food and any their byproducts. This diet can help reduce the risk of food hazards

 

 

Works to be Cited: 

Preliminary: Wikipedia (Factory farming, food safety, issue related with food safety)

                       http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/health-risks-meat-industry

             

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York: Harper Collins, 2001. Print.

Bellenir, Karen. Infectious Diseases Sourcebook. Detroit: Peter E. Ruffner, 2004. Print.

Devries, Juliana. "Making Choices: Ethics And Vegetarianism." Dissent (00123846) 59.2 (2012): 39-41. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 May 2014

Nicole, Wendee. "Secret Ingredients." Environmental Health Perspectives 121.4 (2013): A126-A133. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 May 2014

Marler, Bill. "Food Safety And The Global Supply Chain." Journal Of Environmental Health 76.2 (2013): 48-49. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 May 2014.

ARORA, NAMIT. "On Eating Animals." Humanist 73.4 (2013): 26-31. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 May 2014.

“Media service.” World Health Organization, Health topics, www.who.int/foodsafety. 22 May 2014

"When It Pays To Buy Organic." Consumer Reports 71.2 (2006): 12-17. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 May 2014.

Davidson, Steve. "Going Organic." Ecos 127 (2005): 8-12. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 May 2014.