Big Food

Processed Food Addiction

Posted on July 6, 2020 by halliemthompson Conscientious Consumer

Big Food is popularizing the idea of processed food and snacking all day. These habits are hard to break and are disrupting traditional eating habits. Some health experts have lumped processed food in with tobacco and drug addictions. It can cause just as harmful side effects, however food is necessary for life, making it arguably more dangerous (“PLoS”).

In 2009, obesity in Brazil was 14% , 34% in the U.S., and 24% in the U.K. These numbers are growing rapidly (Monteiro and Cannon). Before Big Food popularized constant snacking on foods with little to no nutritional value, obesity was not nearly the problem it is today. These companies dismiss their contribution to the increasing obesity rates, saying it is a personal choice (“PLoS”). These are the same companies that are targeting advertisements toward kids very similarly to the tobacco industry which is now controlled by government regulations.

Many Big Food brands are also reformulating products so they can advertise them as “healthy”. They rework the formula to have less sodium or trans fat, but they do not actually increase the nutritional value of the product (Monteiro and Cannon). They use the cheapest parts of whole foods and add preservatives and other additives that increase shelf life. Their products trick your body into thinking you are getting whole foods (Monteiro and Cannon). These companies are more worried about making money than they are about public health.

Health experts say that the “saturation point” is when 60% of total calories are ultra-processed. In Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. this happened in 2010 (Monteiro and Cannon). Healthy food needs to make a comeback. Customers can not continue waiting for Big Food to change; it has gone on too long and the stakes are getting too high.

One study in 2000 showed that about 36,504 people died in South Africa due to an unhealthy amount of body fat and unhealthy diets. Research has shown that one simple fix could save many lives — “reducing the salt content in bread alone could prevent 6,500 deaths”, yet Big Food will not make the switch (Igumbor et al). How many lives will it take for them to change? Big Food is so far removed from their customers that they do not directly see the effects of their products. Customers cannot trust them.

Big Food claims that it is making food available, however “one billion people on the planet are hungry while two billion are obese or overweight” (“PLoS”). This means that Big Food is not doing the one thing they claim to do, bring food to people who otherwise would go unfed. Instead they are making food more appealing to people who can afford home-cooked meals. They are hooking them on processed food addictions.

Everytime customers buy something, they are casting their vote. When a customer buys from a Big Food company, it tells them that they support their business. Customers need to become more aware of what they are buying and supporting. Do they know that when they buy from a Big Food company, they are supporting an increase in plastic pollution, the downfall of local business, and the corruption of traditional eating habits?

While Big Food dominates the food environment, the power is in the consumers’ hands. If consumers start supporting eco-friendly, healthy, local businesses, Big Food has to adapt or go out of business. Society needs to think about how they want to cast their votes. We should invest our money in the future. If we continue to let Big Food dominate, we are accepting a future littered with plastic, a future without glaciers, a future with growing numbers of health concerns, a future without local businesses and variety in our supermarkets. We can eliminate worldwide problems society is facing by boycotting Big Food.

The Labyrinth of Multinational Food Brands

Posted on June 29, 2020 by halliemthompson Conscientious Consumer

Big Food is driving out smaller businesses. To truly understand how customers need to first realize how interconnected the big brands are. A lot of time they invest in start-up businesses to be allowed access to their market and insights (“Small Steps”). There is always an ulterior motive. Big Food is smart about where they put their money to get the most out of it. The food industry, “plays better politics than anyone” (“PLoS”).

One example of this is large drink companies partnering with the most popular fast food brands. In doing this they get a massive amount of sales with minimal amount of work, for example Wimpy and Nado’s, popular fast food restaurants in South Africa, only serves Coca-Cola products (Igumbor et al). Until recently, McDonalds almost exclusively sold Coca-Cola, and it still is the majority of soft drinks at the fast food chain. Big Food is dominating every market without customers even realizing.

To help customers get a good idea of the extent of their dominance, they need to know what brands are affiliated with even bigger brands. One example is Smucker’s, Pillsbury and General Mills. Pillsbury was originally an independently owned business until in 2001 when General Mills bought it from them. However, General Mills was forced to sell the dry-baking products like cake mixes to Smucker’s. In 2018, Brynwood Partners bought the baking business from Smucker’s, an exchange worth $375 million dollars. Brynwood Partner is described as a private equity, but do not mistake it for a small business win because this company is the owner of two big drink brands, SunnyD and Juicy Juice (“Smucker”).

Some other examples are Annie’s Homegrown Inc., which has been owned by General Mills since 2014, and Kashi, a business that sells healthy snacks, was bought by Kellogg in 2000. Sales fell for a decade after Kellogg bought it. After Hershey bought Skinny Pop, it kept Amplify Snack Brands, the previous owner’s headquarters, so Hershey had better access to other smaller brands affiliated with Amplify Snack Brands (“Small Steps”). One last example: For $11 billion, the maker of Chef Boyardee is buying Pinnacle Foods, the owner of Mrs. Butterworth, Duncan Hines, and many other familiar brands (“Smucker”).

It is quite easy to get lost in Google searches trying to trace a small brand back to its big owner, but for the most part there always is a bigger brand behind the small ones that people love. The easiest way to avoid this is supporting local businesses.

As big companies become more and more dominant, smaller businesses struggle. Some Big Food companies’ annual revenue is equal to the annual gross domestic product of a middle-sized country (Monteiro and Canon). This surplus of money allows them to strategically invest their money in new markets, making it really hard for start-ups to get going.

Mass marketing is expensive and necessary to promote big brands. In contrast, new brands do not need as much advertising (“Small Steps”). For this reason, Big Food invests in these newer brands by offering deals that they cannot refuse. Big Food only cares about making money, driving them to use corrupt tactics, such as, targeting kids in commercials. About 16% of advertisements during kids TV are food products and 55% of these have essentially no nutritional value (Igumbor et al). Much like the tobacco industry of old, they are targeting youth, so they have lifelong customers.

The sad part is that their tactics are very effective. “The top ten soft drink companies account for 79% of the total soft drink sales in South Africa,” and “the largest ten packaged food companies in South Africa accounts for 51.8% of total packaged food sales” (Igumbor et al).

This is ruining the food environment; we need variety in our stores. All that can be found in grocery stores are different products made by the same ten companies who have the same philosophy: make money. Variation in grocery stores is necessary. That variation is offered by small brands that care about their customers, but how can they justify refusing millions of dollars from a Big Food company?

An example of Big Food taking over local businesses is a Brazilian restaurant. The bottled water offered in the restaurant is made by a Brazilian company that is now owned by Coca-Cola. The local water-based ice lollies that used to be sold there now have been replaced by sugary Nestle ice cream (Monteiro and Cannon). Every time a customer buys from Big Food, they are supporting and allowing them to take over.

Works Cited

Monteiro, Carlos A., and Geoffrey Cannon. “The impact of transnational ‘Big Food’ companies on the South: a view from Brazil.” PLoS Medicine, vol. 9, no. 7, 2012. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A299885105/OVIC?u=mtlib_2_906&sid =OVIC&xid=171adff1. Accessed 31 Jan. 2020.

“PLoS medicine series on Big Food: the food industry is ripe for scrutiny.” PLoS Medicine, vol. 9, no. 6, 2012. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A295 420282/OVIC?u=mtlib_2_906&sid=OVIC&xid=7873be40. Accessed 31 Jan. 2020.

“Small steps for big food brands.” Australian [National, Australia], 1 Oct. 2018, p. 22. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A556429574/OVIC?u=mtlib_2_9 06&sid=OVIC&xid=e99ae07b. Accessed 28 Jan. 2020.

“Smucker is saying goodbye to the Pillsbury Doughboy.” CNN Wire, 10 July 2018. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A545986060/OVIC?u=mtlib_2_ 906&sid=OVIC&xid=9151c65b. Accessed 28 Jan. 2020.

Posted on June 29, 2020 by halliemthompson Quote of the Day

“Multinational corporations and a market economy have transformed human beings into instruments of making money.”
–Satish Kumar

Convenience Brings Earth to its Knees

Posted on June 22, 2020 by halliemthompson Conscientious Consumer

Big Food produces a massive amount of greenhouse gas and is heavily contributing to plastic pollution that is littering our planet.

This is the second in a series of blog posts derived from my Great Falls High Junior Research Paper, “Big Food’s Reign of Terror.”

Plastic has grown in popularity since its invention because it is lightweight, inexpensive, and convenient. There is a customer demand for plastic packaging because of how easily it can be disposed of and companies like Coca-Cola are catering to this demand (Bandoim).

While each individual can easily dispose of a plastic bottle, it becomes a much more difficult task when 7.7 billion people do not consider the lasting impact their plastic trash has on the environment. How do we dispose of 600,000 square miles of garbage in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

There is so much plastic being produced in the U.S. that China and other countries are refusing to take any more for recycling. Instead the plastic is being burned. This is causing more greenhouse gases to be emitted into the atmosphere.

Big Food produces the majority of this plastic with, “Coca-Cola, Nestle, and PepsiCo [being] the top plastic polluters globally” (Bandoim). Every time a customer buys a Coca-Cola product in a plastic bottle or Nestle’s chocolate chips in a plastic bag, they are telling the company to continue using the plastic packaging. They will not change until their customers force them.

In many places, such as Montana, there are little means to recycle plastic, however “Break Free From Plastic” believes that recycling is not enough to solve the plastic pollution problem. Instead, it wants corporations to stop relying on single-use plastic,” so maybe instead of working to get plastic recycling in places like Montana, customers should refuse single-use plastic products and make corporations adapt (Bandoim).

Coca-Cola plans on making their bottles from 50% recycled material by 2030. In contrast, India plans to eliminate all single-use plastic by 2022 (Bandoim). Big Food companies should be doing more.

They are not just top global plastic polluters but also top contributors to climate change “Together, the [top] 10 [Big Food] firms emit more tons of greenhouse gases than Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway combined” (“Big 10 Food”). If society does not change, Earth will no longer be a hospitable environment for the human race sooner than we would like to admit.

Some of these large companies are beginning to make the change, “Walmart promises to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by a billion tons of carbon between now and 2030.” While these efforts are good, it is clear that “you need to engage the whole supply chain” to make a difference (“Can Anyone”).

Deforestation has also increased dramatically with a lot of the land being cleared to growing food (“Don’t Cut”). Big Food uses this statistic to defer the blame to their suppliers, but keep in mind that the multibillion-dollar companies are creating a high demand for the abundance of food worldwide. Big Food is bringing Earth to its knees through plastic pollution, climate change, and deforestation.

The customers have the power to force change. By choosing eco-friendly businesses like Wholesome Hal’s, you are making a difference.

Works Cited

Bandoim, Lana. “Why Coca-Cola Refuses To Ban Plastic Bottles.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 29 Jan. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/lanabandoim/2020/01/23/why-coca-cola-refuses-to-ban -plastic-bottles/#418ea742327b.

“Big 10 Food Companies Emit As Much As The ‘World’s 25th Most Polluting Country’.” YaleGlobal Online, 18 June 2014. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale. com/apps/doc/A371825533/OVIC?u=mtlib_2_906&sid=OVIC&xid=cb86b8d0. Accessed 28 Jan. 2020.

“Can Anyone, Even Walmart, Stem The Heat-Trapping Flood Of Nitrogen On Farms?” All Things Considered, 21 Aug. 2017. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A501957168/OVIC?u=mtlib _2_906&sid=OVIC&xid=1ad2f84d. Accessed 30 Jan. 2020.

“Don’t Cut Those Trees – Big Food Might Be Watching.” All Things Considered, 31 July 2019. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A596564891/OVIC? u=mtlib_2_906&sid=OVIC&xid=592696c3. Accessed 30 Jan. 2020.

Posted on June 22, 2020 by halliemthompson Quote of the Day

“A system is corrupt when it is strictly profit-driven, not driven to serve the best interests of its people, but those of multinational corporations.”
-Suzy Kassem

Big Food: Bad for Environment and our Health

Posted on June 15, 2020 by halliemthompson Conscientious Consumer

Plastic pollution. Climate change. Local businesses closing. Rising obesity rates. Popularized processed food. These are major problems that are affecting communities worldwide, and they can all be traced back to Big Food brands. The advancements made in the last fifty years have increased everyday conveniences greatly but have done nothing to help our planet and the people who inhabit it.

This is the first in a series of blog posts derived from my Great Falls High Junior Research Paper, “Big Food’s Reign of Terror.”

There was a time when Coca-Cola came in a ‘borrowed’ glass bottle that was recycled within the company. Now almost every product the multibillion-dollar company sells comes in a plastic bottle that is used once. There was a time when homemade meant homegrown and made from scratch. Now homemade means making cake from a box. Society values convenience, and Big Food brands are catering to it. These brands like to pretend that they have their customers’ best interests in mind. However, Big Food is heavily contributing to climate change, destroying small businesses, and corrupting traditional eating habits.

While Big Food is disrupting the food environment massively, these companies also are allowing food to be more affordable and available to many. They claim the long shelf life helps get food to people who otherwise go unfed. Supporters of Big Food are quick to point out that they are looking to improve the nutritional value of their food. For example, in 2009 KFC in South Africa claimed it would no longer sell products with trans fatty acids, and, in general, Big Food in South Africa is increasing health and wellness initiatives (Igumbor et al). The introduction of Big Food in Brazil has helped many escape poverty, have more balanced diets and decreased malnutrition (Monteiro and Cannon).

Those same supporters turn a blind eye to the effects of the growing amount of processed food in everyday diets. In the U.S, the U.K., and Canada, processed food made by Big Food has been around a long time and has caused rising obesity rates, heart disease, and other chronic diseases.

When big brands buy out or bankrupt small local businesses, many people fail to see the harm it does to not just the community, but also to themselves as consumers. As brands start to build a monopoly, they gain control over what people are buying and eating and society does not even realize it. Food conglomerates say, “they have a lot to learn from their smaller rivals,” and they make it look like they are competing with small businesses, but the fact of the matter is they are destroying them (“Small Steps”).

Big Food is also destroying our planet and heavily contributing to climate change and plastic pollution. Many brands claim that most of the greenhouse gasses are not coming from their factories. The maker of Oreo cookies, Mondelez International, has “measured its greenhouse gas emissions and realized most of it was not coming from factories or trucks,” but instead from deforestation that is clearing land to grow food. They are using a program called Global Forest Watch Pro to track the deforestation created by their suppliers (“Don’t Cut”). Other companies argue that most of the greenhouse gasses are coming from the fertilizer and once again deflect the blame to their suppliers (“Can Anyone”). Keep in mind that these are the same companies that are creating a demand for abundant food that is creating the need to clear more land.

While the efforts some brands are making to increase public health and decrease their contribution to climate change cannot be understated, owners of million-, or even multi-billion-dollar companies, need to do more than just small steps. They have the power and money to eliminate single-use plastic and popularize healthy food rather than processed food. They simply are not doing enough. Consumers need to be educated about what they are buying, eating, and supporting. That means supporting local businesses that care about and have a connection with every customer.

Works Cited

“Can Anyone, Even Walmart, Stem The Heat-Trapping Flood Of Nitrogen On Farms?” All Things Considered, 21 Aug. 2017. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/ apps/doc/A501957168/OVIC?u=mtlib_2_906&sid=OVIC&xid=1ad2f84d. Accessed 30 Jan. 2020.

Igumbor, Ehimario U., et al. “‘Big Food,’ the consumer food environment, health, and the policy response in South Africa.” PLoS Medicine, vol. 9, no. 7, 2012. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A299885106/OVIC?u=mtlib_2_906&sid =OVIC&xid=3ea2cd44. Accessed 29 Jan. 2020.Monteiro, Carlos A., and Geoffrey Cannon. “The impact of transnational ‘Big Food’ companies on the South: a view from Brazil.” PLoS Medicine, vol. 9, no. 7, 2012. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A299885105/OVIC?u=mtlib_2_906&sid =OVIC&xid=171adff1. Accessed 31 Jan. 2020.

Big Food

Processed Food Addiction

The Labyrinth of Multinational Food Brands

Convenience Brings Earth to its Knees

Big Food: Bad for Environment and our Health

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