Time Article: Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food

This is an interesting Time article/expose about the costs of the meat industry. It focuses mostly on the environmental and health impact of the way the industry is set up. I have included a link, but also some excerpts here for a quick glance. The article is lengthy, but very interesting and easy to read, definitely worth checking out.

"And perhaps worst of all, our food is increasingly bad for us, even dangerous. A series of recalls involving contaminated foods this year — including an outbreak of salmonella from tainted peanuts that killed at least eight people and sickened 600 — has consumers rightly worried about the safety of their meals. A food system — from seed to 7‑Eleven — that generates cheap, filling food at the literal expense of healthier produce is also a principal cause of America's obesity epidemic. At a time when the nation is close to a civil war over health-care reform, obesity adds $147 billion a year to our doctor bills. "The way we farm now is destructive of the soil, the environment and us," says Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist with the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)."

"But cheap food is not free food, and corn comes with hidden costs. The crop is heavily fertilized — both with chemicals like nitrogen and with subsidies from Washington. Over the past decade, the Federal Government has poured more than $50 billion into the corn industry, keeping prices for the crop — at least until corn ethanol skewed the market — artificially low. That's why McDonald's can sell you a Big Mac, fries and a Coke for around $5 — a bargain, given that the meal contains nearly 1,200 calories, more than half the daily recommended requirement for adults. "Taxpayer subsidies basically underwrite cheap grain, and that's what the factory-farming system for meat is entirely dependent on," says Gurian-Sherman."

If you are interested in learning more about corn subsidizing, I would highly recommend reading Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilmemma" where he traces four meals back to their origins (conventional, organic, beyond organic, and hunter-gatherer). See the link at the bottom of the page to buy it off Amazon, or check your local library.