Organic vs industrial food free essay sample

Organic foods, although stereotypically known for having a bland taste or having no taste have been shown to improve ones quality of life be decreasing some health risk such as cancer or heart disease. If you haven’t realized it, organic fruits and vegetables taste better, and the flavor is crispier. The health consequences of genetically modified food, when examined closely, will convince you to change your eating habits. The shelf life of food depends on four main factors: formulation, processing, packaging and storage. Change any one of these conditions and you can change the shelf life for better or worse. Shelf life has many attributes: bacterial control, color stability, yeast and mold inhibition, flavor stability, textural stability and aroma stability. The appearance of shelf-life problems can be wide, as well, including oxidative browning, oxidation of flavor compounds, or liquescence. To increase the shelf life of more unstable foods, such as low-sugar jam, low-salt condiments, low-oil salad dressings, prepared fresh produce and deli meats, food companies may take steps to reduce bacterial load from ingredients before they process the final food. We will write a custom essay sample on Organic vs industrial food or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page To grow, thrive and survive, microbes need a friendly environment; this usually includes moisture. Lowering moisture creates a hostile environment for bacteria by decreasing the available medium for them to grow in. There are a number of new ingredients to help regulate water activity in foods with a reduced fat phase. â€Å" Generally, the water activity of a minimally processed food needs to be about 0.07 or lower, water has an a W rating of 1.00, and most products preserved with sugar, measure about 0.07, with the excess water bound so that bacteria are under osmotic pressure too great to survive(Katz, February 4, 2006).† Whenever you buy food, you have decision to make: Healthy or cheap, organic or industrial. If organic food was not so expensive, that decision would be easy, everybody would buy organic food, for a healthier body. Unfortunately not everybody can afford it, making it look like healthy food is becoming a  luxury good. In the rush to produce more and more food for the people on this planet, chemicals came into play. Farmers begin by trying to sell the highest percentage of their crop and therefore often use pesticides, gen-manipulated corn, chemicals etc. The farmers investment in pesticides, hormones, and chemicals tends to pays off, earning more, their fruits look better and costumers are happy with huge pest fee fruits and vegetables. When a farmer says no to chemicals, he runs the risk of losing a harvest because of pests. The only way to compensate the cost is a higher price for organic food. You cant ask everybody to pay higher prices, and a lot of people would starve to death without the use of chemicals which protect harvests against pests. Every time you eat something, you consume pesticides, these substances are added in order to produce and sell more efficient. Fortunately there are strict rules for the use of chemicals. Organic foods are produced following practices described in the USDA National Organic Program (NOP), a marketing program with a certification process throughout the production and manufacturing chain. The NOP describes the practices that are required for labeling a product â€Å"organic,† but it does not address nutritional benefits or food safety issues. Even when you buy organic food, you are consuming these substances, but the bar is set at a different height and you are consuming less harmful substances that could be particularly hazards for high-risk groups such as pregnant women, infants, young children and farm worker households. Since organic food is not prepared using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, it does not contain any traces of these strong chemicals and might not affect the human body. People strongly believe that organic food tastes better than non-organic food. The prominent reason for this belief is that it is produced using organic means of production. Further organic food is often sold locally resulting in availability of fresh produce in the market. So how bad is industrial food? Let’s take a look; there are maximum residue limits on all pesticides and chemicals. The department of health determines how much of each substance is ok. Eating organic food lowers the risk of getting hit by a similar scenario, but its not a 100% guarantee (Are Organic Foods Better for You. 2010). However, getting seriously sick from cheap food is not that high of a risk as long as you read food labels you can eat cheap and healthy at the same time? If you are eating organic food only, you are  still eating unhealthy foods. Almost everyone is aware that foods grown according to organic principles are free from over exposure to harmful pesticides, but that is only one small aspect. A larger part of organic agriculture is the health of the soil and the ecosystem in which crops are raised. Organic farmers know that healthy, live soils significantly benefit crops. Synthetic chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, and/or fast acting inorganic fertilizers applied to or around crops interrupt or destroy the micro biotic activity in the soil. Organic farming reduces groundwater pollutants, decreases pesticides that can end up in your drinking glass; in some cities, pesticides in tap water have been measured at unsafe levels. The Farmer’s Market is a growers’ market, meaning everything in the market is homegrown, but Richard Bowie, an experienced organic grower is not convinced that all the food being sold is homegrown. â€Å"The market’s slogan ‘100% Homegrown makes us different’ is used as a gimmick, said Bowie† (Shreve, October 3, 2011). Vendors have been seen carrying produce and selling it to other vendors at the market bringing the term organically grown in to question and without certification, and but by law they cannot say they are a certified organically grown vendor. Most vendors cannot afford the certification process and want consumers to look past the term organic there for focus on the soil used or nutrients used. Almost everyone is aware that foods grown according to organic principles are free from over exposure to harmful pesticides, but that is only one small aspect. A larger part of organic agriculture is the health of the soil and the ecosystem in which crops are raised. Organic farmers know that healthy, live soils significantly benefit crops. Synthetic chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, and/or fast acting inorganic fertilizers applied to or around crops interrupt or destroy the micro biotic activity in the soil. Organic farming reduces groundwater pollutants, decreases pesticides that can end up in your drinking glass; in some cities, pesticides in tap water have been measured at unsafe levels. We should choose farming methods that truly address our real concerns safety and sustainability, not simply methods that satisfy an arbitrary marketing label. To whatever extent these practices include methods that are permitted under organic rules. But theres never a case when a safe, mo re efficient, and sustainable modern technology that feeds more people worldwide should be disallowed for no logical reason. Eating â€Å"organic† alone doesn’t guarantee 100 percent healthy .The truth is that most Americans eat so badly that we get most of our calories from soft drinks, more than we do from vegetables; the top food group by caloric intake is â€Å"sweets†; and one-third of nation’s adults are now obese. It’s not unimportant, but it’s not the primary issue in the way Americans eat. To eat well, says means avoiding â€Å"edible food-like substances† and sticking to real ingredients, increasingly from the plant kingdom. There’s plenty of evidence that both a person’s health as well as the environment’s will improve with a simple shift in eating habits away from animal products and highly processed foods to plant products and what might be called â€Å"real food.† From these changes, Americans would reduce the amount of land, water and chemicals used to produce the food we eat, as well as the incidence of lifestyle d iseases linked to unhealthy diets and greenhouse gases from industrial meat production. And the food would not necessarily have to be organic, all it takes is paying attention to what you eat and read your labels more closely. Participation on our part to be more aware of what we buy and to raise our voices, if need be. We can let our opinions be known even in the simplest ways. A good example is when we shop, if there is no substitute for the product we need, let the store owners know, they will surely change their products. Organic food is better as it uses natural farming techniques. It is similar to preferring natural remedies when suffering from a disease as compared to eating chemical antibiotics. So, the question of organic foods vs non organic foods; which is better, is clearly answered. Organic food surpasses the conventionally produced foods.

buy custom Euthanasia essay

buy custom Euthanasia essay Euthanasia refers to the painless killing of an individual suffering from painful and incurable disease or in a coma that is not reversible. This practice is illegal in a number of countries and legal in a few countries because of various reasons. Therefore, legalization of euthanasia is a debatable topic. Some ethical theories such as utilitarianism are significant in explaining the morality of euthanasia. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory, which holds that the proper course of an action is the one that brings about overall happiness. This discussion will consider how utilitarianism would look at the morality of euthanasia in various situations. Utilitarianism, as an ethical theory, is extremely significant in explaining why people should permit euthanasia or why euthanasia is an unethical practice, depending on the current situation. According to utilitarianism, when an individual undergoes tremendous pain and misery, it is morally right to execute euthanasia in order to relief the suffering person. If an individual prefers to die than continue to suffer from pain and misery, it is their own decision, and the government should not interfere. On the other hand, utilitarianism can consider euthanasia as an unethical action. This happens when people use euthanasia abusively. Sick individuals might feel pressured into agreeing to euthanasia by doctors who want to use medical resources for other patients, or by close family members who do not want to continue incurring medical costs. This is involuntary euthanasia, and according to utilitarianism, involuntary euthanasia is an immoral action. Patients who experience involuntary e uthanasia die unhappily. Therefore, according to utilitarianism, euthanasia can be a moral or immoral action depending on the situation in which it happens. For instance, voluntary euthanasia is a moral action because the patient desires to discontinue misery and pain while involuntary euthanasia is immoral because the patient wants to continue living. Utilitarianism is a significant ethical theory that explains the morality and immorality of euthanasia. Buy custom Euthanasia essay

Journal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Journal - Research Paper Example I know what it is when I encounter it through common sense, interpretation and history. Furthermore, I know what it is when I encounter it if I presume that the source of information can be reliable or trusted. This is because I do not judge to know the truth otherwise, and also I do not want to entrust neither to the reality nor to the invalidity of that which I come across. In particular, since the environment can only be viewed through our brain, the things we come across can only be known or interpreted subjectively. Plato’s Myth of the Cave I hold the view that if we as human beings did not have reason then we would not be proficient to live better.   As Plato noted, inside man dwells two very powerful aspects, that is an appetitive aspect and the spirit aspect (Reale 231).   For that reason, the world of ideas was always there, that is why the only approach we can truly make sense of it all involves uncovering by our self. Knowledge cannot be affected any more than i ndividuals can and it is only reason which can help a person to decide. Without reason we take steps in a manner which pay no attention to rational sense. Therefore, the initial step is to recognize that knowledge goes beyond what is simply present in experience, and then recognize that there exist notions which can only be acquired through hard thinking. An example in my life is the Goldfish in my tank, since the Goldfish cannot reason, I usually feed it what it ought to eat and if I give it more food than what it is required, it will continue feeding until it eats a lot than it can withstand and finally die.  Thus, the goldfish does not possess the capability to think, or to reason, and this supports Plato view that the ability for enlightenment rests within the soul and knowledge or education are not issues of native capacity but they are of moving from the cave or generating things to focusing on eternally ideal nature or real things or knowledge . Reason Human nature is defin ed by reason since human beings are not merely in steady interaction with the environment, but also under constant interaction with their inner reality. Therefore, reason entails individual’s reactions to life stresses arising from diverse nature (Velasquez 53). Reason possess higher stature in determining human nature, since it is something that people share with nature itself, even as it connects the apparently immortal aspect humans mind with the universal order. Reason is the natural sovereign which presides over other human parts like spiritedness or emotions. As Aristotle put it, the highest level of human happiness lived consistently, exceptionally and wholly is in agreement with reason. The source of reason is the environment since the human environment offers certain callous demands or incentives, and when their concentration and occurrence are inside the confines of human tolerance, then they can stimulate a person motivation and improve the capacity to make sense o f things (Reale 30). This is because reason is the capability to