Do We Want to Know How Our Food is Made?

Earlier this week, I listened to a special report on food production and food safety.

Farm to Fork: Uncovering Hazards in Our Food Systems

I found this special report fascinating. It's all about the process of how food ends up on our plates (which a big portion is dedicated to meat production). What's more fascinating is that I'd bet that most meat eaters will have no interest in listening to this. "I don't want to know [what happened to this animal before it got to my plate]" For the food I now eat, I'm continuously fascinated by and eager to learn more about how plant based food is produced, harvested and distributed. Doesn't that reveal something about it if we want to willingly remain in the dark about the food we put in our bodies and feed our families with?

Hopefully this popular mindset is changing. More people are getting interested in particular parts of the story about how food is made. There are growing concerns about local, organic, and GMOs. Most importantly, this special report also focuses on the workers who make this whole process possible. There are so many abuses in our food system and parallels between the exploitation of animals and people caught in the middle. The way our food is made today neglects fundamental human and animal rights.

We can make the companies that produce our food change. We make a difference every day by voting with our dollars. As much as we tend to villainize big corporations, I believe they will necessarily be part of the solution...if we make them change.

"At the center of these complex systems [all the various ways food gets to us] is people. There is stark contrast between the condition of the foods we see in grocery stores and the conditions the workers ensure to put it there. But change is possible."