Food crisis in Pakistan  
 

The inflation turned out to be 23.34 per cent during the month of December 2008 whereas it was 8.79 per cent in the month of December 2007 last year. The main contributor to this inflation has been the food inflation which stood at 27.92 per cent. Besides, the 32 per cent depreciation of the Pak rupee during July-December 2008 also helped in this exorbitant price inflation.

The increase in food and fuel prices has been an international phenomenon for last few years. As apparent from the table, the food inflation rate has remained higher than overall inflation rate in the country during January 2007 to December 2008. Usually, the poor spend about half of their income on food. As such, the consistent and rapid increase in prices of food items has been directly hurting the poor in developing countries including Pakistan. The sudden rise in food prices can be attributed to various factors but primarily due to increase in production of bio-fuels from food grains and oil seeds by USA and EU. Rising oil prices forced many countries to work for bio-fuels to ensure energy security for their countries. The increase in food prices started in January, 2002 but steep rise took place during January, 2007 to June, 2008. In many countries including Pakistan, food inflation has been higher than overall inflation. Similarly, in EU, the overall inflation was 6 per cent and food inflation was 6.4 per cent in 2006 but in 2007, overall inflation increased to 10 per cent and food inflation to 15 per cent. This price hike led to food riots in some countries while some took stringent measures like banning exports of wheat, rice, etc. and adjusting import tariffs.

The prices of both food grains (wheat, rice, maize, soybeans) and oil seeds (soy beans, rapeseed, sunflower, and cotton seed) started increasing in 2002. Prior to that year, food prices have largely been stable. Global grains production saw an increase of 10.2 per cent and 8.9 per cent during 2004 and 2005 respectively. Despite substantial increase, the demand for food grains continued to increase and so the prices. During January, 2005 to June, 2008, maize prices increased by 300 per cent, wheat prices by 127 per cent and rice prices by 170 per cent.

On the other hand, the production of global oilseed crops increased during 2004-2006. But its prices also increased during January, 2005 to June, 2008. During this period, palm oil prices augmented by 200 per cent and soybeans prices by 192 per cent. The increase in prices of grains and oils were accompanied by a boost in the prices of meat, sugar, citrus, etc.

Many factors like declining dollar, rising energy prices, increased in the cost of production, foreign exchange holding by major food importing countries, ban on exports of certain items by some countries etc. contributed to this exorbitant rise in the prices of grains and oils but many studies recognise bio-fuel production as a major driver of food prices. It is to be noted that bio-fuels comprises ethanol and bio-diesel. Ethanol is produced from sugar crops like sugar-cane or beets and starchy crops such as maize. On the other hand, bio-diesel is produced from vegetable oils (like rapeseed, soy beans oil, sunflower oil) or animal fats. The increased demand for bio-fuels led to increase in demand for maize and soybeans and reduced their supply for food use. The increase in prices of these products forced the people to substitute them with other food items like wheat and rice. This rise in demand for wheat and rice pulled their prices upward around the world. Even in USA, inflation increased by 20 per cent during 2000-2007 which was basically due to increase in prices of maize, wheat and rice by 47 per cent, 26 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.

Increase demand for vegetable oils for bio-diesel led to increase in their imports by major producer of bio-diesel. For example, EU increased the import of vegetable oils from 4.4 to 6.9 million tons during 2000-2007 and also increased the production of bio-diesel from 0.45 to 1.9 billion gallons during 2004-2007. Similarly, imports of vegetable oils in USA increased from 1.7 to 2.9 million tons during 2000-2007 whereas production of bio-diesel increased from 0.03 to 0.44 billion gallons during 2004-2007 in USA.

The increased demand for bio-fuels was driven not only due to its being cheap energy but also due to incentives offered by EU and USA. USA offered a tax credit for blending ethanol of .51 per gallon and an import tariff of .54 per gallon. Similarly, EU offered .0 per gallon tax credit for blenders of bio-diesel. These incentives made it possible for USA to increase bio-diesel production from 0.03 billion gallons in 2005 to 0.44 billion gallons in 2007 by using basically 3.0 million tons of soybeans oils. On the other hand, several EU members have introduced legislation for mandatory blending of bio-fuels and allowed exemption or reduced excise taxes on bio-fuels (EU has a specific tariff of Euro 0.192 per litre of ethanol and an ad-valorem duty of 6.5 per cent on bio-diesel. These measures led to an increase in bio-diesel production from 0.28 billion gallons in 2001 to 1.78 billion gallons in 2007. This was made possible by raising use of vegetable oils for producing bio-diesel from 1.0 million tons in 2001 to 6.1 million tons in 2007. These incentives promoted the use of oil seeds for producing bio-diesel and contributed substantially in raising their prices. The price of soybeans oil jumped from 4 per ton in 2001 to 22 per ton in June, 2008.

As evident from the above, although many factors contributed in the unprecedented rise in food prices, but the main contributor has been the increasing use of grains and oils seeds for production of bio-fuels in some countries particularly USA and EU. Increased prices of food items led to reduction in purchasing power increase in poverty and slowing down of economic activities. In this regards, following points needs to be given due considerations:

The prices of petrol, wheat, rice, edible oil and fertiliser have come down substantially. For example, petrol prices have been reduced from 7 per barrel to around per barrel, wheat prices from 0 per ton to about 0 per ton, edible oil from 22 per ton to 5 per ton, fertilisers from 25 per ton to 00 per ton by November-December, 2008. The domestic prices of these products in Pakistan need to be adjusted downward in accordance with reduction in international prices. This will substantially reduce the inflation in Pakistan; increase the purchasing power, allows the State Bank to cut down discount rate which would stimulate the economic activities in the countries. Pakistan has recently entered into an agreement with IMF wherein she has committed to bring down inflation to 20 per cent by 30th June, 2009 and to 6 per cent by 30th June, 2010. Unless the reduction in the international prices and so the import prices of petroleum products, wheat, edible oil, fertiliser are accordingly passed on to people, the commitment made to IMF will not honoured. In order to bring down the prices of food items to provide relief to common man, the government has to take some specific steps like banning exports of all food items including vegetables, pulses, fruits as well as eliminating all taxes particularly the import duty and sales tax on food items (as has been done by Turkey, China, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Morocco, etc). Reduction in the petroleum prices will lead to reduction in transportation cost and so the inflation. Allowing import of food items from neighbouring countries will reduce the transportation cost and so the prices. The buffer stock and storage of all food grains and edible oils needed to be enhanced substantially to meet any price fluctuation by increasing supply at the time of price rise as has been done by India. The balance of payment affect of large and expensive food import has been very negative for Pakistan and was one of main factors for billion trade deficit during 2007-2008. Stabilising the Pak rupee exchange rate vis-à-vis US Dollar which will help in controlling the prices of imported goods. The government needs to stop borrowing from State Bank which is highly inflationary. As the rising food prices mostly affects the urban middle and working class and can lead to socio-political unrest, hence their stability need to be ensured. It is presumed that all those who were previously on the poverty line (one dollar per day per head) would have been pushed below the poverty line due to rise in food prices. Therefore, the schemes of direct cash payments to targeted people need to be expanded as has been done in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordon, Syria, etc. The government may also consider “food for work” scheme by initiating a public rate to stimulate the economic activities.

It appears that the era of cheap food has over. As such, the governments in developing countries have to take long term measures to attain the self-sufficiency in the production of food grains and edible oils domestically on sustainable basis so that food security for their countries can be ensured.

Your dog’s/ cat’s size Breed of your dog/ cat Your dog’s/ cat’s everyday activity level Your dog’s/ cat’s life stage And the health conditions associated with your pet. 

 

Without considering these factors, you can not cater to your dog’s basic needs. Some of the leading names associated with dog food Sydney include eukanuba dog food, hills science diet dog food, royal canin dog food, eagle pack dog food, iams dog food, supercoat dog food and pedigree dog food. But for choosing the right dog food among them you need to consider the above given factors. 

? Size of your pet: Your dog’s size plays an important role in deciding the amount of advance dog food that should be fed to your pet. Usually good brands such as royal canin dog food and royal canin cat food contain feeding regulations and even the approximate amounts label is present on the bag. These labels are to guide you about the needs of your specific dog. 

? Breed of your dog: It is important to note that the specific nutritional requirements of dogs vary according to their breeds. Certain breeds require more nutrition than others in order to live the best possible lifestyle. Manufacturers of dog food Sydney are well-acquainted with such issues and to overcome such problems have started producing breed specific cat and dog food products. 

? Your dog’s/ cat’s everyday activity level: Dogs with high energy require food with higher calories. Calorie rich food such as eukanuba dog food, hills science diet dog food, eagle pack dog food, iams dog food, supercoat dog food and pedigree dog food are appropriate for working dogs, as they remain highly active while assisting their masters in daily tasks. 

? Your dog’s/ cat’s life stage: Even the life stage of your dog plays a vital role in opting for a dog food. Nutritional needs keep on changing with the passage of time and different life stages have different nutritional needs. Puppies require a protein rich, high calorie dog food, whereas adult dogs require a balanced dog food including all the necessary elements. Senior dogs have special requirements and different needs. Therefore, it is impossible to serve the similar kind of advance dog food to every dog. 

With so many choices available in the markets, you may find difficult to choose an apt dog food for your pet, but these important factors can guide you a long way.

Food safety therefore includes such matters as the temperature control of food through storage, preparation and service, the avoidance of cross-contamination, cleanliness of food handlers, equipment and food premises, and pest control etc. etc. etc.

The old term ” food hygiene” probably put too much emphasis on cleanliness. That is not to say that cleanliness is not important in a food business, it obviously is, but food safety requires much more than a clean premises. Many outbreaks of food-borne disease were caused by clean food businesses.

The infamous E. coli O157 outbreak that occurred in Central Scotland in 1996 and resulted in the deaths of 19, was traced back to the butcher’s J Barr & Sons. At the public enquiry that followed the chairman said that Mr Barr ran a clean business, but what he didn’t run was a safe business.

A thorough review of food safety at J Barr & Sons would have revealed poor temperature control, cross-contamination risks and staff inadequately trained in food safety matters. In terms of food safety the methods of food preparation and handling are more important than the cleanliness of the shop’s floor and walls.

This move from the term ” food hygiene” to food safety has been reflected in UK food legislation and training courses for food handlers. The first regulations designed to control food businesses and prevent the rise of food poisoning cases were the Food Hygiene Regulations 1955. The use of the term ” food hygiene” continued in subsequent regulations in the 1960′s and 1970′s. It was not until 1995 before ” food safety” was used in the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995.

A similar change of term has occurred with regard to training courses which were originally called “Basic Food Hygiene” courses, and then “Foundation Courses in Food Hygiene” and more recently “Level 2 Awards in Food Safety in Catering/Retailing/Manufacturing.”

So, Food Safety is now the accepted term for the study and practical application of all the principles required to produce safe food for consumers.

These are foods which are low in nutrition but high in calories. They contain a high amount of fat, oil, salt or sugar. Examples can include too much chocolate or candies, potato chips, over-fried items etc.

Needless to say they can be bad for your weight loss efforts and even bad for health if you eat too much of these junk foods. For better health, we need to stay away from eating junk food as much as possible because they come with so many bad effects.

While it may not be so easy to completely cut down on eating junk food, we can certainly lessen our consumption with a little bit of determination. By lessening consumption of junk food we can also curb over-eating to a certain extent thereby helping in proper weight management.

Instead of eating junk food we can then develop the habit of eating healthier foods and eating food in moderate quantities. Below are some tips to help you stay away from eating junk foods.

How to Avoid Eating Junk Food? 5 Tips to Help You:

1. Don’t buy junk food: Avoid buying junk food while shopping for your monthly or weekly grocery at the store. If you don’t buy junk food then it can be easier to stay away from them.

Try to keep your fridge free from tons of junk and unhealthy or fattening foods. So sometimes even if you feel like having some junk snacks or gulping down a coke, you will not be able to do so because its not available now. You have to go out and buy it which may prevent you from giving in to the temptation.

2. Developing healthy eating habits early: If we can teach our children to eat healthy foods right from childhood, then they may grow up to become healthy eaters. They may be less prone to eat junk food later on in life.

And it is all the more important to teach children healthy eating habits because they are more likely to be attracted to junk food. So we may need to pay more attention in teaching them healthy eating habits.

Also as adults we need to lead by example. So we too will have an added incentive to stay away from junk foods because we don’t want to set a bad example for our kids.

3. Educating yourself about junk food: Many people do not fully realize the negative effects of junk food not just for weight loss but also for the health in general. By fully educating yourself and others about the negative and bad effects of junk food, it can become relatively easier for us to stay away from them.

4. Keeping a food journal: This tip can be very handy to curb eating junk food and to curb overeating. Write down in a journal what you eat everyday – whether its healthy eating or bad eating, note everything down.

At the end of the day if you look at your journal you may be shocked to see your very own eating habits. If you keep doing this for few days you may realize how bad your eating habits really are and may find a new inner determination to overcome this bad habit at all costs!

5. Substitute healthy foods for junk foods: Write down the common junk foods you frequently consume like soft drinks, sweets, chips, fried and oily items etc. Next make a list of healthy foods that you can eat instead of the junk items. This list can include carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, fruit and vegetable juices etc.

Most of the times, we do not eat either for taste or due to hunger. We just want to munch on something which can lead to eating junk food. In such cases, we can munch on healthier and low calorie items like carrots, cabbage etc instead of eating junk food.

Replacing your junk food snacks with healthier options can be one great way to avoid eating junk food and staying healthy, lean and fit! With the help of the above tips you can overcome this bad habit and finally be able to say a firm no to junk foods!

Around 250 diseases are there around which can cause infection to people through food but out of them twoo are major and overarching types of food poisoning.   Viruses, bacteria, and parasites called  “infectious agents” is one way.  ”Toxic Agents” is another way through which food poisoning occurs.  The list includes mushrooms, foods that are not properly or fully prepared, and incompletely cleaned foods which still contain things like pesticide.  One of best ways to prevent food poisoning is through high levels of sanitation and hygiene.

There are several symptoms and effects of food poisoning as it is so intricate and there are 250 ways of diseases caused by food poisoning and as many “infectious agents”. A partial of symptoms includes:
·    nausea
·    headaches
·    vomiting
·    abdominal pain
·    diarrhea (both watery and crampy as well as bloody and even mucusy)
·    fever
·    inflammation of internal organs
·    kidney failure
·    muscles aches
·    blurry vision
·    speech problems
·    bodily weakness
·    death

There are several ways by which doctors can test for food poisoning.  Most common tests are urine and blood tests that are needed.  Lastly, rectal exam also may be chosen by doctors.  In addition to these tests, common checks like breaking rate and blood pressure are also checked by doctors.

Inspite of its intricacies, food poisoning problem can be prevented by  people in many ways.  When shopping, they can avoid purchasing packages that appear open or torn, waiting until the end of their shopping trip to buy frozen or cold items and taking them home immediately, and avoiding contact between raw foods (like meat) and other foods.  Moreover, what is most important is cleanliness.  After going to the bathroom, it is important to wash hands.  Importantly, hands should be washed before dealing with uncooked foods and also after handling them.  When actually cooking food, people can also take a number of steps to avoid food poisoning.  A meat thermometer should be used to measure the temperature of the meat when cooking meat.   Also, eating leftovers within four days is a good precaution.  Lastly, food should not be left for more than two hours outside so that it does not get spoiled.

Sometimes, people who get poisoned by food do not have control over whether they get poisoned or not.  Especially, someone falls since after eating in a restaurant, it is the fault of restaurant.  The chefs may not have cooked the food completely.  Precautions like washing hands after using toilet, or before and after handling food may not have been taken by them or others.  The restaurant may have spoiled ingredients.  {However,  it is because of the mistake committed by others that this person has fallen sick through food poisoning.

Keeping food out of the temperature range (40-140 degrees) where bacteria grow easily and quickly; keeping HOT and COLD foods as it is besides remember the famous proverb, “When in doubt, throw it out”!.

So what are the symptoms?

About 20 organisms can produce food poisoning. Once you eat the food which is contaminated by bacteria, you can find the uneasiness in the stomach. All the bacteria in the stomach will multiply when bacteria gives off toxins. As a result, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea occur.Vomiting and diarrhea are the body’s way of eliminating the poison, and most cases of food poisoning run their course without needing medical attention.

The symptoms may vary form case to case but the the majority standard symptoms are vomtings. However symptoms may also include fevers and chills, be as non descript as weakness and exhaustion

Common Sources of Food Poisoning

Campylobacter is the primary cause of bacterial food poisoning in the USA. It causes numerous million cases a year, resulting in hundreds of deaths. The food poisioning is caused because of eating undercooked chicken or the food  in contact with raw chicken. The Center for Disease Control estimates that up to 70%-90% of chickens are infected with campylobacter.

Food Poisioning- Preventive steps

Make sure that the chicken is cooked well. When meat is uncooked or undercooked, there can be a lot of distinct kinds of bacteria which can still grow. Some of these might make you sick right away by interacting with cells that make up your stomach. Other bacteria will just keep growing on your meat and make toxins which will make you sick. The under cooked meet or chicken is very risky to the health. The meet, which is cooked well or even over cooked may not cause any harm to health as the bacteria will be killed in the over cooked chicken. Also, when you cook your meat properly, you can refrigerate it securely for longer than undercooked meat.

Temperature: Keeping foods at the proper temperature-especially dairy, eggs, and meats-is very important . To appropriately store foods, keep your freezer set to zero degrees Fahrenheit and your fridge set 37 to 40 degrees.

Eating hygiene food can diminish the probability of causing food poisioning. Be smart about your healthiness and take the required precautions when working with food.

Summary of Food Poisoning

All the symptoms like nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea are not true cases of Food poisioning . An exact diagnosis can be intractable because the pathogenic organisms are found in dissimilar kinds of food and have unreliable incubation periods. Also, eating a substance and getting sick straight away afterwards is not the normal course for food poisoning. Most people are not concerned that food eaten several days formerly can be the cause of food poisoning. Always be sure to consult a physician when experiencing terrible gastrointestinal symptoms.

Whether you are an accomplished chef or a novice cook, preparing food for a New Years Eve party can be quite a challenge. One of the first decisions you will have to make is what kind of food you will like to prepare for your guests. You may opt for offering a sit down dinner early in the evening and light snacks and desserts afterwards. Likewise you may opt to offer a dinner buffet early in the evening and snacks and desserts throughout the remainder of the evening. Alternately you may choose to skip dinner because the party will likely start late in the evening and simply offer an assortment of sweet and savory appetizers throughout the evening. Once you have selected one of these options you can make other decisions such as what types of foods to offer and how much food to prepare.

Regardless of the types of foods you decide to offer, you will also have to make decisions regarding the preparation of the food. The simplest, but also likely the most expensive, preparation option is to have the party catered. In this case you pay a caterer to prepare and deliver all of the food. They will also likely provide the methods for keeping the foods hot or cold if necessary. This is an excellent option for hosts who do not want to spend a great deal of time preparing food for the party and who do not want to have a great deal of responsibility related to food preparation on the evening of the party.

Another option for preparing food for your New Years Eve party is to prepare all of the food ahead of time. With a little research you will surely find a large number of recipes for items which can be prepared ahead of time. These recipes can include items which can be served chilled, room temperature or hot. For items which should be served hot, you will only have to worry about reheating the food on the night of the party. Preparing the majority of the food ahead of time is a great idea and will really help to enable the host to enjoy the festivities on the evening of the party.

Still another less popular option is to prepare all of the food during the party. This helps to ensure the food is all fresh and is served at the appropriate temperature but it is also a great deal of work for the host. The host will not likely have a great deal of time to socialize with the guests because she will likely spend a great deal of time busy with food preparation.

When planning a New Years Eve party, you can also consider hosting a potluck event. This greatly simplifies the food preparation process for the host. If you opt for a potluck, it is important for the host of the party to coordinate with the guests to determine who will bring what to the party. This is important because you do not want everyone to bring a dessert. Likewise you don’t want everyone to bring an entrée either. Ideally a couple of people will prepare entrees and the remainder of guests will bring side dishes, salads and desserts to the party.
Preparing food for a New Years Eve party can be a great deal of fun or it can be a great deal of stress. It can even be a combination for the two. Those who are experienced at throwing parties may be able to plan a menu for their New Years Eve party and execute their plan with ease while still enjoying the party. However, those who do not have a great deal of experience hosting parties may have difficulty planning a menu and may feel a great deal of stress on the day of the party. In either case, it is wise to begin planning the food for your New Years Eve party in advance to ensure your guests enjoy the food at the party. This article will offer some tips for preparing food for a New Years Eve party.

Whether you are an accomplished chef or a novice cook, preparing food for a New Years Eve party can be quite a challenge. One of the first decisions you will have to make is what kind of food you will like to prepare for your guests. You may opt for offering a sit down dinner early in the evening and light snacks and desserts afterwards. Likewise you may opt to offer a dinner buffet early in the evening and snacks and desserts throughout the remainder of the evening. Alternately you may choose to skip dinner because the party will likely start late in the evening and simply offer an assortment of sweet and savory appetizers throughout the evening. Once you have selected one of these options you can make other decisions such as what types of foods to offer and how much food to prepare.

Regardless of the types of foods you decide to offer, you will also have to make decisions regarding the preparation of the food. The simplest, but also likely the most expensive, preparation option is to have the party catered. In this case you pay a caterer to prepare and deliver all of the food. They will also likely provide the methods for keeping the foods hot or cold if necessary. This is an excellent option for hosts who do not want to spend a great deal of time preparing food for the party and who do not want to have a great deal of responsibility related to food preparation on the evening of the party.

Another option for preparing food for your New Years Eve party is to prepare all of the food ahead of time. With a little research you will surely find a large number of recipes for items which can be prepared ahead of time. These recipes can include items which can be served chilled, room temperature or hot. For items which should be served hot, you will only have to worry about reheating the food on the night of the party. Preparing the majority of the food ahead of time is a great idea and will really help to enable the host to enjoy the festivities on the evening of the party.

Still another less popular option is to prepare all of the food during the party. This helps to ensure the food is all fresh and is served at the appropriate temperature but it is also a great deal of work for the host. The host will not likely have a great deal of time to socialize with the guests because she will likely spend a great deal of time busy with food preparation.

When planning a New Years Eve party, you can also consider hosting a potluck event. This greatly simplifies the food preparation process for the host. If you opt for a potluck, it is important for the host of the party to coordinate with the guests to determine who will bring what to the party. This is important because you do not want everyone to bring a dessert. Likewise you don’t want everyone to bring an entrée either. Ideally a couple of people will prepare entrees and the remainder of guests will bring side dishes, salads and desserts to the party.

Many people are beginning to realize how important their choices in foods really are as more and more research is being done to explore the impact foods have on our health. It is estimated that at least one third of American adults will now try to address their health concerns by using food. However, instead of just looking at how nutritious the foods are or whether they are low in bad fats, people have started looking at the bigger picture. They’re now buying foods which will help contribute to their overall level of health instead of looking for one miracle food that will heal everything.

For many years, health researchers were focused on trying to identify which primary constituent in a food was responsible for it’s healthy properties. In time, what became apparent is that there is no one miracle constituent. The best health and wellness benefits from food come from a variety of elements within each particular food. Isolating just one factor won’t give you the same results as eating the whole food will, and this is why there are no true miracle drugs or vitamins on the market to buy. If you want all the health benefits that garlic or blueberries have to offer for example, then you need to actually eat the garlic and berries on a regular basis.

Hundreds of studies also reveal that it isn’t just one food all by itself that is the healthiest, the nutrients in food work together to promote health and heal chronic health conditions. So it is now understood that eating a wide variety of healthy foods is much more important than one or two independently. For example, combining the healing benefits of carrots, broccoli and garlic is much more beneficial than just one. Eating a balanced meal that contains meat, complex carbohydrates, vegetables and fruit is healthier than one of them alone.

We know without a doubt, that the types of foods we eat plays a vital a role in maintaining optimal mental and physical health and it is also critical for helping to prevent and heal chronic health problems, diseases, and syndromes.

On the other hand, a food that is your best medicine for one person can also be a poison for another. We are each unique biochemically and metabolically. Different people need different things. It all depends on your particular body chemistry. Additionally, different illnesses, conditions or diseases have a different impact on nutritional needs and may result in limits that a healthier person doesn’t face.

For example, a diet that is healthy and beneficial for someone with diabetes may be completely different from someone living with asthma. Some body types do well with a vegetarian, raw or macrobiotic diet, while other body types need meat protein to function optimally and do best with steamed veggies.

Although certain dietary guidelines like removing sugar, white flour, caffeine, pesticides, herbicides, food additives and preservative will be beneficial to us all, other factors are more individualized. Part of designing a healthy diet is getting to know your body and what it needs. There is not a “one size fits all diet” and not all foods are created equally. Your diet should take into account the following factors:

- your overall level of health
- health conditions you may have
- what are you trying to achieve
- the integrity of your gastrointestinal tract
- food allergies or food sensitivities

One of the problems that many people face, is that they don’t really know there bodies or what it needs. Approximately 80% of the population has undiagnosed food sensitivities that they are not aware of. Hidden food sensitivities are often at the root of many health conditions or syndromes as well as psychological symptoms.

So, for example, garlic or whole grains may be a Superfood for a person without sensitivities, but for another person with undiagnosed sensitivities, it can unknowingly be the root of their arthritis, migraine, sinus congestion, heart burn, headaches, irritable bowel, fatigue, chronic pain, insomnia or even depression, anxiety, hyperactivity or autism and more.

A person without sensitivities may derive benefits for their colon with a diet rich in whole grains, while someone who is sensitive to gluten or grains may find that these foods are at their root of their irritable bowel or gas and bloating.

One person can thrive and benefit from the vitamins and minerals in fruits high in sugar, while for another it may be the cause of their anxiety attacks and depression.

It is crucial when choosing the foods you will include in your diet, to know which foods are the best choices for you and your body. Food is your best medicine, but only when it meets your unique biochemical and metabolic needs. By designing a diet that is right for your body chemistry, you can make significant improvements in your physical and psychological health.

So what are GM foods? Although different people and groups have different definitions, GM foods can broadly define as foods that “are produced from crops whose genetic makeup has been altered through a process called recombinant DNA, or gene splicing, to give the plant a desirable trait.” The modification is usually done in the lab using molecular techniques or genetic engineering although there are others who would argue that crops produced through conventional breeding can also be considered as GM food.

The first GM food crop, a tomato developed by Montsanto was submitted for approval to the US FDA in August 1994 and came into market in the same year. As of September 9, 2008, a total of 111 bioengineered food products have completed the US FDA “consultation procedures” on bioengineered foods. In addition to the tomato, the range of products includes soybean, corn, cotton, potato, flax, canola, squash, papaya, radicchio, sugar beet, rice, cantaloupe, and wheat. According to estimates by the Grocery Manufacturers of America, “between 70 percent and 75 percent of all processed foods available in U.S. grocery stores may contain ingredients from genetically engineered plants. Breads, cereal, frozen pizzas, hot dogs and soda are just a few of them.”

The benefits of GM foods. Support for GM foods come from different sectors: scientists, economists, and understandably from the agricultural and food industries.

GM foods can fight world hunger. The world population has reached an all-time high of over 6 and a half billion. Over 20% of these are suffering from poverty and hunger. That GM foods can stop hunger is one of the noblest motivations behind the development of GM foods. GM foods supposedly are easier to grow and bring higher yields. In poverty-stricken parts of the world, higher yields can save millions of lives and bring much-needed economic benefits. In a review, Terri Raney of the United Nations says “…the economic results so far suggest that farmers in developing countries can benefit from transgenic crops…”

GM crops are better. GM crops are designed to be sturdier and more robust than their non-modified cousins. They are meant to be resistant to drought, diseases, and pests. The Hawaiian papaya industry, for example, only managed to survive a virus epidemic after the introduction of more resistant transgenic varieties.

GM foods have been with us for hundreds of years. The wide variety of many plants that we see today came about through natural as well as traditional man-made plant cross-breeding that took thousands of years. That is peppers come in different shapes, colors, and taste, from the very spicy hot to the sweet types. That is why we have more than 1000 different types of tomatoes.

GM foods can fight malnutrition. In a world suffering from malnutrition, GM foods can answer the need for more nutritious food. To cite an example, Swiss research strove to create rice strains that contain large amounts of beta-carotene and iron to counteract vitamin A and iron deficiency. Malnutrition can refer to both undernutrition and wrong nutrition. People in rich and developed countries may have more than enough food but not the proper nutrition necessary to keep them healthy. For this reason, researchers at the European-funded FLORA project have developed strains of fruits and vegetables with enhanced content of antioxidants. Through genetic engineering, FLORA oranges have higher than normal flavonoids and phenolics. The FLORA purple tomatoes have three times the amount of the antioxidant anthocyanins compared to normal tomatoes.

GM foods are good for the environment. The damage to the environment that insecticides such as DDT bring about is well-known. The use of synthetic fertilizers in the farmlands led to the eutrophication of rivers and lakes all over the world. GM foods translate into less use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, and therefore less pollution.

GM foods can help medicine. GM foods can be used in producing pharmacological products in the so-called “medical molecular farming: production of antibodies, biopharmaceuticals and edible vaccines in plants.” FLORA stands for “flavonoids and related phenolics for healthy living using orally recommended antioxidants” and it sees it self as “a player in the future of medicine.” As early as 2005, Indian researchers reported the potential use of transgenic bananas in carrying vaccines against hepatitis B. In the same year, the biotech company GTC Biotherapeutics based in Framingham, Massachusetts has developed a herd of genetically modified goats that produce milk which contains a human anticoagulant called anti-thrombin.

GM foods are safe. The creators of GM crops are quick to assure that GM foods are safe and pose no threat to human health. GM crops are regulated by three agencies: the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the US FDA. “The FDA ensures that foods made from these plants are safe for humans and animals to eat, the USDA makes sure the plants are safe to grow, and the EPA ensures that pesticides introduced into the plants are safe for human and animal consumption and for the environment. While these agencies act independently.”

According to the US FDA, “bioengineered foods do not pose any risks for consumers that are different from conventional foods … We make sure there are no hazards, such as an unexpected allergen or poisonous substance in the food, or that the food is not changed in some way that would affect its nutritional value.”

The issues against GM foods.

The opponents of GM foods may be scientists, environmentalists, and of course consumer groups. In addition, many celebrities are openly anti-GM, thus setting role models for the public. Among the most well-known and outspoken GM sceptic is Charles, England’s Prince of Wales.

GM foods are for profit. According to its opponents, GM foods were created for profit and nothing else. They cite the multinational giant Monsanto, a pioneer in GM research and owns the infamous Roundup crops. Companies like Monsanto are unlikely in the GM business for purely noble reasons.

GM foods are unregulated. The use of GM foods in the world is almost an unregulated free-for-all activity. Going through the US FDA consultation procedures is mainly voluntary. Anti-GM advocacy groups and concerned scientists are asking for more controls and regulations.

There are also reports of GM plants escaping field trials and finding their way to the natural environment, thousands of miles away. In 2006, rice which contained genes from the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (the notorious Bt) found its way to European supermarkets, causing a big outcry. The bacterial gene rendered the rice resistant to insects and the transgenic rice was a test plant that has not yet been approved for human consumption.

GM foods can harm the environment. GM foods are affecting their environment and some of these effects might actually be harmful. The effects are especially evident in other living organisms within the vicinity.

There are concerns, for examples, how cross-pollination with pollens from GM plants can affect non-GM plants.

Resistance development is another major issue. In China, for example, researchers used antibiotic-resistance marker genes to derive resistant transgenic rice strains. There are concerns that the marker genes will be taken up by naturally occurring gut bacteria and lead to resistant, more pathogenic strains.

Other studies also point to possible effects on animal life such as insects which are closely interact with the GM plants. One of the most well-known incidences was the claims that pollens from transgenic corn plants with Bt insecticidal gene markers are adversely affecting monarch butterflies in North America. Although experts say that the butterflies were safe from Bt, environmentalists were not satisfied.

GM foods can be detrimental to human health. The main concerns about adverse effects of GM foods on health are the transfer of antibiotic resistance, toxicity and allergenicity. With genetic modifications come new compounds in the crops which we virtually know nothing about. These compounds may be in the form of allergens and little-known proteins whose effects to human health are difficult to predict. In the food chain, this can even affects animals fed by GM crops and slaughtered for human use.

GM foods are not better. Western Europe is a stronghold of anti-GM movement. A European study last year declared that organic foods – which are exclusively non-GM-, are definitely better and more nutritious than their non-organic counterparts.

Which way do we go? The risks versus benefits of GM food are not an easy issue to settle. There is an urgent need for increasing food production and GM foods seem to be in the best position to address this need. In the short-term, GM foods are probably the solution to food shortage.

Currently, there is not enough scientific evidence to support the possible risks of GM foods. However, like in most things new and innovative, the long-term benefits and adverse effects can only be speculated upon.

Responsibility should be on the scientists, the health authorities, and the industries to act responsibly and to be as transparent as possible.

The months between the cherries and the peaches

Are brimming cornucopias which spill


 

Fruits red and purple, somber-bloomed and black;

Then, down rich fields and frosty river beaches

We’ll trample bright persimmons, while you kill

Bronze partridge, speckled quail, and canvasback.

—Elinor Wylie1

I ate another apple pie and ice cream; that’s practically all I ate all the way across the country, I knew it was nutritious and it was delicious, of course.

—Jack Kerouac2

  In October of 1998, Jiao-Tong, the literary editor of the China Times in Taipei, Taiwan, invited me to write an essay on American food in American literature for presentation at the first International Conference on Food and Literature that was held in Taipei in May of 1999.  I thought that I would find many secondary source books on this topic.  After extensive searches of the net and communications with several professors of American literature at universities in the United States and Canada, I was quite surprised to find no book in print on the topic.  Not only was there no book about it there was also no single article that directly addressed my topic.  The absence of secondary sources explains why most of the references in this essay are to primary sources.  The limitations on time and space for this writing further explain why I have limited my survey of American literature to novels, short stories and poetry.  I have tried to make a representative selection among novelists, short story writers and poets including writers from almost two hundred years of American literature, both genders and a variety of ethnic groups.  Because there are so many versions of primary works that I cite, I have limited those citations to author’s name, title of work and internal part such as verse, chapter, or section and omitted page numbers of the particular versions that I used.  Less well-known works, collections and anthologies receive standard citation format.

To bring some order to this vast quantity of material, I have created three themes around which I can weave what I have found about American food in American literature: continuity and discontinuity; purity and impurity; and, abundance and scarcity.  These three themes allow several important truths about the American experience through time to appear as preoccupations of its writers as well.  For example, the great changes wrought on the land and the indigenous peoples were accompanied by profound and lasting attachments to European food habits.  Also, the tremendous abundance of natural resources and artificial wealth in America has long coexisted with devastated land and utter poverty.  The greatest American writers, such as Melville, Faulkner, Hemingway and Steinbeck, have repeatedly recognized and embodied these extremes in their plots and in their characters, much as they are embodied in the every day lives and personalities of Americans.

As an introductory frame for my presentation, I would like to offer some possible explanations for the lack of secondary sources.  First, I think that most of the famous and popular American foods, such as pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers and ice cream are derivative from European foods.  The pizza came from Italy.  The hot dog is a version of the German sausage.  Hamburgers are reformed meatballs joined with bread that is as old as agricultural civilization itself.  And ice cream also has its counterparts in the cuisine of European nations.  So the first reason for the lack of secondary sources is that most American foods are derivative and not original to America.

An ironic counterexample in this context is the Chinese fortune cookie.  As a food item, it has very little nutrition, but as a part of the American idea of Chinese food it has become a necessity at American Chinese restaurants.  However, I have asked several owners, waiters and waitresses in American Chinese restaurants whether Chinese fortune cookies came from China.  All of them have told me that they did not.  They were invented in America and most likely, according to this oral history, in San Francisco.  This seems to me to be a credible history.  San Francisco grew as a city on the money generated by high-risk professions such as whaling, shipping, gold mining and offshore ocean fishing.  We can easily imagine an enterprising Chinese person noting how concerned the Americans in these professions were with their future good luck or bad luck, putting this understanding together with a well-established American liking for sweet desserts, and creating a sweet dessert that looked different and contained words of wisdom about the consumer’s fate.

 Second, until the last few decades, American literature and literary criticism were dominated by males whose worldview connected food with women and put them both in the kitchen and out of sight.  Most of the male writers whom I read for this essay used food and activities around food to highlight aspects of character or plot.  They did not present food gathering and preparation, cooking, serving, eating, drinking and cleaning up as activities that substantially reinforced aspects of their main characters, most of whom are men, or as events that substantially advanced the plot, story-line or themes of their writing. 

Indeed, a related topic could be included in this kind of study that has to do with care of the body generally.  For example, it is extremely rare for any American writer to mention such bodily functions as excretion or urination.  Different kinds of breathing are certainly associated with different kinds of emotional and physical conditions, such as fear, sorrow, fatigue, exertion or contemplation.  But like food, other bodily processes are usually ignored, taken for granted or glossed.  I mention this topic only in passing, and do not have the time or space here to dwell on it, but simply to point out that focusing on food as a topic in relation to literature is an important innovation that signifies a range of human activities whose presence or silence in literature would be an interesting expansion of this focus.     

Third, as an American, I feel that most Americans take food for granted.  We tend to view it as an unavoidable burden placed on our freedom of activity by the condition of having a physical body.  We tend, especially in the last decade of the 20th century, to try to minimize as much as possible the time and energy required for all phases of life connected with physical nourishment of our bodies.    The growth, popularity and power of the fast food industry in America reflect this disdain for the necessities of physical nourishment.

After the Allied victory in World War II, the US experienced unprecedented prosperity while applications of new technology allowed older tasks to be done with increasing speed.  The complete acceptance of free market competition, in an ideological, political and economic opposition to centralized, planned economies and societies, the tremendous success of rapid, large-scale mass production in support of military forces during the war, and the increasingly tense and complicated struggle between capitalism and communism began to change the values of American society from the slower, simpler values of agricultural life and rural living to the faster, more complicated values of industrial production and urban living.  Speed began its emergence as a paramount American value.  For example, in 1955, shortly before the experiences recorded in Kerouac’s On the Road, the two fast food companies that are now the largest in America—McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken—were founded.  “By the early 1980s there were about 440 food franchising companies with a combined total of more than 70,000 retail outlets in the United States.”3  Americans from smaller, more congested living situations in Europe slowly adjusted to the scope of the American land and its resources.  Size, especially bigness, became a common value in all areas of American life.  With the advent of speed as a value, the American ideology for the remainder of the 20th century gained its primary outlines—the bigger the better, the faster the better.  From automobiles to hamburgers, this ideology began increasingly to govern how Americans thought about everything they did.  Both values play significant and signifying roles in the relationship between American food and American literature.   

Besides the social environment of European derivation, male dominance and indifference toward food, there is the traditional character of the successful American writer.  Most of America’s most famous writers were and continue to be male.  Most of these male writers, such as Hawthorne, Twain, Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Poe, and Miller, continually placed their leading characters, most of whom were males, in positions that required the creation of a stable and meaningful life.  Like the first colonists, like the pioneers, like the immigrants, their characters are continually faced with challenges to their survival, their ability and their manhood where the latter is defined in terms of overt verbal and physical superiority rather than mutual, cooperative care or nurturing.  An ironic counter-example is Ayn Rand, a female writer who totally accepted the values of competition, personal power and rugged individualism. Her powerful male characters, such as the nearly godlike architect in Atlas Shrugged, are faced with problems and situations that demand forceful, individual creation and production on large scales. 

The fact that