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Many Americans are informed about the everyday foods they eat. An average grocery store has over 47,000 products. Could one even imagine dying from that fruit, vegetable, or meat that they assumed was “safe.” As consumers, we need to gain back control and now is the time! Based on the video, “Food Inc,” viewers are exposed to how current food trends and technology effects production, purchasing, and consumption of food in America. If you’ve ever walked into a grocery store you might have noticed that there are “no seasons” in the American market or there are more amounts of boneless meats. Production plays a huge role in the way America consumes food. Back in the late 1900’s the McDonald Brothers started a factory system in their restaurants. Meat packaging used to be one of the best jobs in America, now it has become the most dangerous job. 32,000 animals are slaughtered per day and employees are at risk, and usually receive infectious diseases, such as e-coli. Today four companies run eighty percent of the beef produced, one of the biggest being Tyson. Tyson’s inject hormones in their chickens, causing chickens to be twice as big. When chickens have so many steroids it causes rapid growth. These chickens can’t handle all this weight and their organs tend to give up to them. As more and more antibiotics are give to these chickens, the chickens are becoming resistant and get sick and worse. You would think these chicken growers would make money but they don’t. An average grower makes only 18,000 dollars a year, and borrows 500,000 dollars to create two chicken houses. Once a chicken grower signs that contract, it’s hard for them to get out. With the constant upgrade and upkeep Tyson requires, it’s hard for these chicken growers to make a decent living. The biggest predictor of obesity is income level. The way American purchase and buy food has a huge impact on our health; with more technology there should be healthier, safer, and cleaner food. 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000, will contract early onset diabetes. Among minorities the rate will be one out of two. With fast and unhealthy food being cheaper and healthy food being more expensive, it doesn’t help the situation. Many families are not that educated of healthy lifestyles and good nutrition. The Food Industry wants it to stay like that. The Food Industry doesn’t want people to be aware of calorie count, (especially in fast food), trans-fats, and country origin label. A great example of consumers being aware of what their eating is a situation in Wal-Mart. In a local Wal-Mart, because consumers got educated about their food, they switched from modified “regular milk”, to organic whole milk. Wal-Mart saw that this organic milk was popular and gradually, decreased the stock of this regular milk. When a community is educated they can make a difference. The way we eat food has changed in more than 50 years then in a thousand. In 1900’s an average American, farmer cold feed 6 to 8 people. Now days, an average farmer can feed about 126 people. The FDA, USDA, and EPA regulate food. In 1972, FDA conducted approximately 50,000 inspections compared t o2006, only 9,164 inspections were conducted. Many of the people who hold important roles in the FDA, USDA, and EPA were formal presidents and lobbyist for beef and processed food. It doesn’t help that the IBP, picks illegal immigrants to work in the meat industry. Many of these illegal immigrants in the meat industry were once corn works; because of the cheap cost of corn in America, America was no longer buying corn out of America. When immigration service’s our called to pick up these immigrants, they arrive to the trailer parks. These trailer parks are located close to the meat company and our filled with many illegal immigrants. Immigration services know that there are many illegal immigrants inside the trailer park and only collect about twenty of them. We can assume that the FDA, USDA, and the EPA work together with other processed and meat lobbyist and presidents to strike under the counter deals. With all this new found information, this video has changed the way I eat. As a community and a nation we need to be educated about what’s inside our food. Simple changes can make a huge difference. One should only try to eat foods that are in season for that particular time; going to organic or local markets, although a bit more expensive ca n promise you a very low chance of chemicals and bacteria being contaminated inside your food. Try to limit how often you eat fast food. Doing little things like these can slowly improve one’s health.