Healthy Organic Foods & Capitalism
Organic foods are going through a major movement right now because corporations are capitalizing on them. Everyone knows the benefits of eating organic, however grocers and big food industries know that they will make billions of dollars in profits for selling natural, healthy, normal foods that do not contain pesticides or genetically modified organisms. It is a sad day when consumers have to pay more money in order to eat healthy fresh whole foods because of corporate greed. Today, corporately owned organic food brands take up most of the space in the organic section of your favorite grocery store. They come at a price that is higher than the "unhealthier" foods and corporations are bankrolling on organics.
An example of the greed can be seen in store bought eggs. A very popular talk show host ousted the factory farmed eggs which was detrimental to the egg industry's profits. When consumers were exposed and became aware of the dark truths of the egg industry, food corporations jumped on the bandwagon and started pushing eggs that are brown, caged free, and make the claims that the eggs are hormone free. Well the fact of the matter is, eggs and chickens have not had hormones in them for decades because it didn't really produce higher yields like these hormones do in meats. Hormone free eggs are just a way for the corporations to trick consumers into believing that these eggs are better for them, when in fact there is no difference. Those eggs are still factory farmed and those same chickens eat the same corn. Organic eggs simply means the chickens eat foods that have a low yield of genetically modified corn. Caged free simply means that they are on the floor in a huge hen house where they are packed in by the thousands.
Organic foods and capitalism can also be seen with frozen packaged foods and soy products. Consumers have been led to believe that anything organic is good for them, therefore food industries package these foods in unhealthy, and environmentally damaging plastics. Plastics that are made from plant based materials such as corn, will likely be a biodegradable plastic that is indeed made from a genetically modified product. The food inside of these plastics, whether the plastic be biodegradable or not, may indeed be organic, however the packaging alone defeats the whole purpose. There are many examples of how corporate greed has taken over the organic food movement and have undermined what organics foods really are, however it is up to the consumer to be self aware of how eating healthy can have devastating effects on the environment and at the same time promote "hippie capitalism".
