When you walk into a supermarket the options and variety seems endless but in reality there are really only a few companies and crops involved in producing the majority of products you see. If you look just a little bit closer into what it is you are putting into your body when consuming industrial foods you will find that the most are just cleaver rearrangements of corn. Corn is a remarkable crop that has conquered the world and has indefinitely changed how we produce foods. Corn is the biggest legal cash crop in America and currently 30% of our land base, about 80 million acres, is planted to corn. This is largely because of government policies that in effect allow farmers to produce corn below the cost of production. Farmers are paid by the federal government to overproduce and grow as much corn as possible because of the large corporations that need a whole lot of it. The companies use their need for corn and mad amounts of money to lobby congress to pass the bills that allow the farmers to produce cheap corn, subsidizing farmers by the bushel.
The reason these companies are allowed to pay for the overproduction of corn is because they come up with uses for it all. We now engineer foods and corn is the most common/ easiest crop that can be used to make specific traits to add to foods. This is because corn is essentially a big kernel of starch and it can be easily modified and manipulated. Since the invention of High Fructose Corn Syrup in the 70’s we have seen a drastic increase in the number of products that contain it because it’s cheaper and has less calories than alternative sweeteners. According to the Center for Food Safety about 85% of foods on the shelves of super markets in the US contain a corn product. This includes; Ketchup, Cheese, Twinkies, Peanut butter, Cheez-its, Salad dressing, Coke, Jelly, Juice, Kool-Aid, Charcoal, Diapers, Motrin, Meats, ethanol fuel, and more. It’s amazing how many different “ingredients” corn can be made into. Some common forms are; High Fructose corn syrup, Maltodextrin, Di-Glycerides, Ascorbic Acids, Cellulose, Sucrose, Calcium Stearate, Vanilla Extract, White vinegar, Gluten, Baking Powder, Margarine, and so much more. There are many theories that attribute our increase national obesity rate to the introduction of corn into our food source.
Despite all the foods corn can be made into, the main use for the overproduced crop is to feed our animals. The USDA attributes corn to be in 90% of total feed grain production and use. Corn is the primary feeding ingredient for Cows, Chickens, Pigs, and even Fish! Because of the subsidies making corn so cheap it has allowed the companies to drive down the price of meats. The average American consumes more than 200lbs of meat per person per year, this life style would not be possible if we didn’t feed our animals such a cheap diet. By selling corn at a price that is below the cost of production, feedlot operators can buy it at a fraction of the cost to grow it. Even though corn is cheap it does come with a cost. Across the country there are a plethora of train tracks that’s primary purpose is transporting corn from the farm to animals on land called CAFOS (concentrated animal feeding operations). Cows by evolution are not designed to eat and process corn but rather grass and the only reason we feed it to them is because it is cheap and it makes them fat fast. Due to this there is research that indicates that a high corn diet results in the mutation of E Coli that is acid resistant. This bacterium is harmful and is better known as E Coli 0157h7. This infectious bacterium is a result of the cow’s diet and feedlot life. It’s been found that very often on these feedlots the cows stand in their manure all day therefore if one cow gets E Coli, all of them do. How the bacteria gets into our food is when the cows get to the slaughter house their hides are covered in manure and if they’re slaughtering 400 cows per hour its hard to keep the manure off of the carcasses and thus getting into the meat. The Centers for disease control and prevention estimates that there 73,480 illnesses due to E. coli O157 infection that occur in the US each year which lead to an estimated 2,168 hospitalizations and 61 deaths annually.
Who knew corn was such a big deal!
~Nikki
The reason these companies are allowed to pay for the overproduction of corn is because they come up with uses for it all. We now engineer foods and corn is the most common/ easiest crop that can be used to make specific traits to add to foods. This is because corn is essentially a big kernel of starch and it can be easily modified and manipulated. Since the invention of High Fructose Corn Syrup in the 70’s we have seen a drastic increase in the number of products that contain it because it’s cheaper and has less calories than alternative sweeteners. According to the Center for Food Safety about 85% of foods on the shelves of super markets in the US contain a corn product. This includes; Ketchup, Cheese, Twinkies, Peanut butter, Cheez-its, Salad dressing, Coke, Jelly, Juice, Kool-Aid, Charcoal, Diapers, Motrin, Meats, ethanol fuel, and more. It’s amazing how many different “ingredients” corn can be made into. Some common forms are; High Fructose corn syrup, Maltodextrin, Di-Glycerides, Ascorbic Acids, Cellulose, Sucrose, Calcium Stearate, Vanilla Extract, White vinegar, Gluten, Baking Powder, Margarine, and so much more. There are many theories that attribute our increase national obesity rate to the introduction of corn into our food source.
Despite all the foods corn can be made into, the main use for the overproduced crop is to feed our animals. The USDA attributes corn to be in 90% of total feed grain production and use. Corn is the primary feeding ingredient for Cows, Chickens, Pigs, and even Fish! Because of the subsidies making corn so cheap it has allowed the companies to drive down the price of meats. The average American consumes more than 200lbs of meat per person per year, this life style would not be possible if we didn’t feed our animals such a cheap diet. By selling corn at a price that is below the cost of production, feedlot operators can buy it at a fraction of the cost to grow it. Even though corn is cheap it does come with a cost. Across the country there are a plethora of train tracks that’s primary purpose is transporting corn from the farm to animals on land called CAFOS (concentrated animal feeding operations). Cows by evolution are not designed to eat and process corn but rather grass and the only reason we feed it to them is because it is cheap and it makes them fat fast. Due to this there is research that indicates that a high corn diet results in the mutation of E Coli that is acid resistant. This bacterium is harmful and is better known as E Coli 0157h7. This infectious bacterium is a result of the cow’s diet and feedlot life. It’s been found that very often on these feedlots the cows stand in their manure all day therefore if one cow gets E Coli, all of them do. How the bacteria gets into our food is when the cows get to the slaughter house their hides are covered in manure and if they’re slaughtering 400 cows per hour its hard to keep the manure off of the carcasses and thus getting into the meat. The Centers for disease control and prevention estimates that there 73,480 illnesses due to E. coli O157 infection that occur in the US each year which lead to an estimated 2,168 hospitalizations and 61 deaths annually.
Who knew corn was such a big deal!
~Nikki