Abuse in the Food Industry: This Time the Words Suffer

Currently, I’m reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Saffran Foer. I strongly recommend everyone read this book, unless you’re an omnivore who wants to keep eating meat. In that case, I’d strongly warn you not to read this book.

But this post isn’t about what you choose to eat. It’s about how food manufacturers misuse words to confuse you about what you eat. Saffran Foer has confirmed my worst suspicions: words such as “free-range,” “fresh,” “kosher” and “organic” mean very little in terms of health or animal compassion and are instead food industry buzz words to make consumers believe that they do in fact mean healthy or compassionate.

As a quick reference, here are the abbreviated versions of Saffran Foer’s definitions:

FREE-RANGE: The USDA doesn’t even have a definition of free-range for laying hens [the ones that provide eggs.] …I could keep a flock of hens under my sink and call them free-range (61).

FRESH: “Fresh” poultry has never had an internal temperature below 26 degrees or above 40 degrees F. …There is no time component to fresh (61).

KOSHER: Fully conscious cattle at the (then) largest kosher slaughterhouse in the world, Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa, were videotaped having their tracheas and esophagi systematically pulled from their throats… being shocked with with electric prods in their faces (69). This goes against the Jewish dietary laws that say if humans absolutely must eat animals, we should do humanely, with respect for the other creatures in the world and with humility (68).

ORGANIC: Organic foods in general are almost certainly safer and often have a smaller ecological footprint and better health value. They are not, though, necessarily more humane. …For chickens raised for meat and for turkeys, though, “organic” doesn’t necessarily mean anything in terms of welfare issues. You can call your turkey organic and torture it daily (70).

My primary peeve with this bastardization of language is that manufacturers do this not only to promote the image of their products but also to charge more to their consumers. This is a big point of debate for pro-factory farms: if people want organic, or free range, etc., the cost of food will increase greatly. And for a few years now, I’ve been part of that faction of America that say’s that’s OK! Cheap means cheap, and I’m willing to pay for quality.

That being said– dammit I expect quality! Regulated, enforced and punishable quality, and that is not what I / we’ve been getting. As a conscientious consumer, I feel like the food industry is throwing the wool over my eyes. For goodness sakes, Fruit Loops got a [phony] healthy cereal award.

I don’t know where to sign up, but I am officially on the food quality, 100% transparent, no matter the cost bandwagon. (Yes, I am privileged to not worry about my food bills–but revolutionizing our food system would in fact revolutionize it for the poorest of consumers in both terms of money and health, but I’ll save that for a different post.)

Anyone else fed up or concerned about the mislabeling of our foods? What else could be getting mislabeled or produced unregulated? Food is not what it used to be.