This paper will investigate the links between globalization, food production and consumption, and a marked increase in obesity rates in North America in recent decades. (Shaw, 2004; Young, 2004) Phillips (2006) examines the international production, distribution systems and consumption patterns of food, focusing on the impact of transnational corporations (TNC) on these processes. (Phillips: 38) Globalization of food brings about particular changes to local and regional food production systems. (Phillips, 2005; Lind and Barham, 2004) It tends to destroy local food production and lead to corporatization of food, with food becoming primarily seen as a commodity. (Harriet, 2000) The corporatization of food has led to the rise of fast foods, in America and internationally. There is very little nutritional benefit found in these products, increasingly promoted in aggressive ways by profit seeking corporations. (Harriet, 2000; Lind and Barnham, 2004; Shaw, 2004)
[...] (Shaw: 252) A third book by Brownell and Horgen, Shaw notes, describes toxic environment in which obesity has flourished a sedentary lifestyle, lack of physical activity, junk food, soft drinks and oversized meals (Shaw: 352) Globalization of food production is leading, Shaw writes, to a situation where malnutrition and obesity both become international problems. Phillips notes that globalization of modern food production can be traced back to the end of the 2nd world war when institutions such as the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) developed their mandate to ‘modernize' food production and food consumption patterns in the developing world to fit a predominantly industrialized American model. [...]
[...] the corporate headquarters of many of the transnational companies promoting and distributing fast foods internationally. Thus, this paper has shown direct links between the globalization process, food production and rising levels of obesity in the American population; a trend spreading internationally as corporations aggressively seek out new markets in the developing world. References Contaldo, Franco and Pasanisi, Fabrizio, (2004) “Obesity epidemics: secular trend or globalization consequence? Beyond the interaction between genetic and environmental factors.” Clinical Nutrition, Vol pp 289-291. Friedman, Harriet, (2000) What [...]
[...] (Phillips: 41) Concerns about globalizing the food system have become more acute with North America's increasing obsession about obesity and other health costs of fast food and highly industrialized diets.” (Phillips: 41) Shaw (2004) reviewing a book on obesity in America written by Schlosser, notes the author provides statistics which show that the rate of obesity in the United States is as high as of the total population, with of children characterized as obese. (Shaw: 350) “Today it is estimated that about 44 million American adults are obese and an additional six million are ‘super- obese'. [...]
[...] (Phillips: 42) Friedman (2000) in an article on globalization and consumption patterns traces the rise of American corporate food production methods to the hamburger, which he calls an American invention, comprised of two of the staples of American agricultural monoculture wheat and cattle. Friedman argues, “Monocultural farming based on industrial techniques, vast transport systems and elaborate commercial and financial instruments, are being rapidly exported to the rest of the world. (Friedman: 510) The hamburger is a symbol of what Friedman calls “human-induced ecological simplification”, a process that has taken thousands of years, but has been speeded up by modern 20th century industrial agro-business, centered in the U.S. [...]
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