When you walk into your local grocery store, you usually will see large posters possibly over the “fresh” produce showing images of farmers, animals roaming in an open field, and even big, green crop fields. However, if we stop and think about it, is this really how the food in America is being produced? Are these billboard signs showing the true reality of how the food we consume everyday is being put out to us?
Well, thanks to the researchers and companies who put the time of day into studying how these food items are created, we as a society have the ability to see and understand where our food is coming from. Usually, when stepping foot into the grocery store, the way that they portray products to you makes it look like our food system is not damaged but instead is thriving. In your average supermarket a study was done that showed that each store averages in carrying about 47,000 different products. Also, when you stroll over to the produce section you see fresh, ripe tomatoes, in the middle of winter. You see bright red strawberries, big blue blueberries, and crunchy green lettuce. But have we ever wondered how our fruits are able to be so fresh in the middle of winter, or how these items seem to not have seasons? This is because the producers of these items are spraying the fruit with chemicals so the fruit is enabled to stay ripe all year round.
Moving away from the thought of our “fresh” vegetables and fruits, let’s move on to talk about our poultry in America. When you go to your local grocery store and you decide that you want to buy a nice, large, Tyson chicken, perhaps consider what you are about to read. If you have ever seen pictures, or talked with someone older of age about chickens you will most likely see that they were a lot smaller back then. Also, before our food companies were changing the way chickens grew it took chickens about 3 months or more to grow full term, but now we are seeing it only take about 49 days for a chicken to grow to a full size. The reason behind this consists of the fact that over time the way that chickens grow has been genetically modified so that they appear bigger and contain more white meat (chicken breasts). Also, you are being lied to when you see a sign in the store of chickens roaming in a field with a fence. In reality companies such as Tyson are paying farmers to mass produce chickens in a small amount of land and then they are selling the poultry at a lower price . This is known as the Farm Bill. The Farm Bill basically means that the animals that the farmers take care of do not actually belong to those so called farmers, they belong to large corporations. The chickens are all cooped up in small buildings, often with no light, and many actually die during this growing process because since being genetically modified the chickens bones and organs cannot withstand how quickly they are growing, which as a result causes them to die. The chickens are also fed antibiotics in their feed and the corporations are at this point abusing both the animals and the farmers. The farmers are then becoming like slaves to the corporations for the reason that they are threatened by the companies and told that if they share how the food and animals are really being handled that they will cut their contract and in the end the farmers will not make sufficient money to sustain themselves.
Ok, now that you have gotten a sense of some of the secrets in America regarding our poultry and our produce, let’s talk about the other 47,000 products that are in the aisles of the supermarkets and are packaged. In our day and age there is now a thing known as subsidized farming which is described as being paid to overproduce your crops. This is happening with corn farmers. Corn is a fairly easy thing to grow in the United States and over time it is being produced faster and in greater amounts. A study found that approximately 30% of our land in the United States goes to corn fields. Since this crop is so easy to produce, it is being placed and rearranged into about 90% of our food items. I guarantee that if you pick up a packaged item in the store, it will either list a product of corn or soybean in the ingredients. Our food can now just be described as rearrangements of corn. Now, when I say that there is corn in everything we eat I do not mean corn you pick out of a local farmers corn field, I mean highly processed corn, industrialized corn, and corn that has been genetically modified and made more starchy. We also have to think about the fact that the majority of the corn grown is sprayed with pesticides. The corn we are eating is not from its original grain but instead things derived from corn. One of the biggest and most toxic of these is high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup was made to be an alternative sweetener and some may even spew the lie that it is “Just as healthy as white sugar” but in reality it is much worse. Studies have shown that the rate of obesity in America has skyrocketed since noticing the amount of modified corn being put into our food. Truthfully, it is an unhealthy amount.
Lastly, as a society we need to start thinking about the fact that unhealthy foods, meaning the foods filled with sugar, fats, salt, and corn products are way cheaper than going to Whole Foods and buying fresh produce. This is done intentionally by our government because these items are created using subsidized farming and are very addictive. We see people with a lower income being very unhealthy because the way our food systems are set up, they cannot afford the healthier and more nutritious foods. Something needs to be done, this needs to be stopped, and as a society we need to step up and start caring for ourselves and what we are putting in our bodies, as well as what others around us are eating.
President Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to step into the position to take over American health. He has some changes he would like to put into place. First he is very focused on reducing the amount of sugar in school lunches, as well as implementing a change to have whole milk back in schools. Also he aims to limit toxins, pesticides, and herbicides which will improve our American food system. Furthermore, RFK wants to limit ultra-processed food and overall is very focused on the health and dietary needs of American people, so while there are a lot of flaws in American food, I would say we are a big step closer to being a healthier nation.
Works Cited
Deparde, Haley. “Corn is bad for you, bad for farmers, but it’s everywhere.” The Southerner, FlexPro WordPress SNO, 19 April 2011, https://www.shsoutherner.net/opinion/2011/04/19/corn-is-bad-for-you-bad-for-farmers-but-its-everywhere/. Accessed 2025.
Kenner, Robert, director. Food, Inc. Magnolia Pictures, 2009.
Schemmel, Alec. “How can RFK impact how we eat? Experts weigh in.” Fox News, 6 January 2025, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/diet-nutrition-experts-weigh-how-rfk-jrs-nomination-could-impact-how-we-eat. Accessed 5 February 2025.