Food Security

One of government’s most important jobs is to protect its people against foreign and domestic threats. The food industry is a domestic threat. But if the government tries to intervene to stop the abuse of American citizens, at least a quarter of the people will rebel because they do not favor government intervention and refer to it as a “nanny state” – interfering with public choice. As stated in the McGovern Report, “It is the responsibility of government at all levels to take the initiative in creating for Americans an appropriate nutritional atmosphere—one conducive to improvement in the health and quality of life of the American people.”^[1] Particularly when it comes to children, hopefully parents will start to agree that limiting their kids’ exposure to junk (or processed) food advertising would be beneficial, not just to the children’s health, but to ease the purchasing choices of the parents who are also misinformed.

We can see that habits developed in childhood often become lifelong habits. Look at the number of obese adults that cannot change their eating habits. Although, it would be easier to correct what the government is already doing rather than give them more to do. First, the biggest correction would be for the government to stop subsidizing fake food, i.e. inedible field corn. Second, they could put the school lunch program back in the hands of cooks instead of the fast food industry.

The film Fed Up (2014) predicts 95% of Americans will be overweight or obese in the next two decades and a third of adults will have diabetes by 2050 if nothing changes in the modern American diet. They ask the question, “Where will first responders and soldiers come from when everyone has obesity related diseases?” Obesity was the single biggest reason for disqualifying new military recruits in 2014.^[2]

Academic performance is related to nutritional quality.^[3] Many studies over the past 25 years have shown that a high quality diet improves school performance because of behavior, cognition, concentration, memory, and other factors. The latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test results, released Dec. 3, 2013, show that the U.S. lags among 65 countries even after adjusting for poverty. Top U.S. students are falling behind even average students in Asia who now dominate the top 10 in all subjects: math, reading and science.^[4] Our country loses competitive edge when it feeds itself with fake food.

The variety of crops grown in the U.S. has decreased to those that can most easily be shipped cross-country and local communities are becoming less self-reliant. Maintaining diverse farm sectors will make us stronger and more independent as a nation; we are losing our farm knowledge and the ability to feed ourselves.^[5] Bolstering domestic farming capacity reduces our dependence on (and vulnerability to) faraway sources of food. Our reliance on other countries for fossil fuels represents a grave security threat, and farmers using renewable energy sources and less petroleum-based fertilizers decreases this need.

Two examples of the naivety of most Americans toward their food sources and how those sources can backfire are lack of biodiversity and factory animals. As history shows from events like the Irish potato famine, when a country relies on fewer types of crops, there is risk to its people when one crop is somehow eliminated. Second, in factory farm settings, when animal treatment is no longer transparent, people are eating meat from sick animals. David Nabarro, U.N. system coordinator for influenza, pointed out when discussing avian (bird) flu, “Why do we spend so much defending ourselves against terrorism or natural disasters, but so little in defending ourselves from animal disease.”^[6] As more people learn about real food, I hope they will start considering how it affects not only their own health but the safety of all citizens. Instead of decreasing crop varieties and the number of companies producing food, eating local, sustainable, and real food increases the security of our nation.