Future of Food

My favorite food to snack on are Snickers candy bars. I just find them absolutely delicious and impossible to resist. I have never really thought about what actually went into making them though and for this journal entry decided to do some research. The actual ingredients that go into making them are as follows: milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skimmed milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, artifical flavor), peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, skim milk, butter, milkfat, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, and egg whites (www.snickers.com). The company that manufactures the product, Mars Incorporated, actually goes about a sustainable way in growing their cocoa for the candy bars. According to their website, "Mars is proud to be the first global chocolate company to commit to fundamentally changing the way sustainable cocoa farming practices are advanced by aiming to certify its entire cocoa supply as being produced in a sustainable manner, by 2020. In April, 2009, we announced a commitment to source 100,000 tonnes of Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa per year, by 2020.

Our commitment to sustainable cocoa sourcing is making a difference that is helping to ensuring the long-term sustainability of essential raw material" (http://www.mars.com/global/index.aspx). The cocoa is grown across many different nations, including Africa, Asia, South and Central America (http://www.mars.com/global/index.aspx).

I attempted to research Snickers candy further but wasn't able to find out much else about the candy treat. There wasn't anything listed in terms of where the other ingredients were made, or how much fossil fuels were used to produce them.

On one of our field trips, we got to watch a documentary called, The Future of Food. It was an interesting documentary looking at the progression of food processing and how we're going the route of gene manipulating crops. I enjoyed the movie because I never once really thought or cared much about how my food is processed and made. I simply accepted food and enjoyed it, not really thinking about any consequences. This movie opened my eyes into the gene manipulation behind making these crops. I'm not exactly hungry to eat crops that were genetically inclined to resist pesticides. I would rather eat something that is strictly all natural. I also feel that it isn't in the consumer's best interest with these corporations hurrying to patent seeds and control the food market. I think once corporations hold rights over all types of foods, they have too much power and will look to extort the consumers for as much money as possible as opposed to putting out the best product. I think in the future people should know about their food and how it's processed and whether or not it contains manipulated genes. They have a right to know what they're putting in their body because I think many people are like me and don't know too much about the crops that are genetically modified.