What's in Your Food?

This week's documentary Banana Land: Blood, Bullets and Poison that focused on the banana industry really resonated with me. I wasn't the first time I have heard of the issue, as my father works in agriculture and is pretty up to speed on what is going on. He also has made a point in educating my family on where our food comes from, and how it was acquired. My mother is an animal science major so she also pride herself in educating my brother and I were we get our meats and the life cycles of animals. Over all, I had a pretty fascinating childhood. Plenty of visits to farms and fields, but there is still many things that are kept in the dark about our food and the unethical ways we obtain it. This isn't the first time ethics have been questioned in the food industry.

Fair trade is something that has been mentioned numerous times throughout the quarter in this class and I think it is a more imperative practice than ever. Massive corporations shouldn't continue to suck and drain away and unfairly compensate, as well as take advantage of developing countries and its inhabitants. The profits earned should help them turn into a developed country, not drain their resources further. No man should be rendered sterile from the abuse of pesticide regulations on banana plantations. No family should have their child's health and their own be at risk from these chemicals as well. The abuses need to end and human life needs to always be prioritized over the greed of corporations. I will now go out of my way to avoid Dole products as well as Chiquita bananas. I saw both of their products in Fred Meyer this weekend and I got a little bit sick to my stomach remembering the documentary. I have made a vow with myself to try and look for fair trade items more closely. It is easy to purchase commonplace, multi-billion dollar industry products out of the sake of time, money and convenience, but it is really important to remind yourself that every item has a story. Even something as seemingly cheap and meaningless as a common banana.