Are food manufactures killing us

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Course: ENGL 201
Instructor: Jim Discus
Date: 23 July 2014
Critical analysis: Food Antibiotics, flavoring... are food manufactures killing us?
There has been growing interest on the impact of manufactured food on the quality of food and health of consumers, especially with use of flood flavorings and antibiotics. While there are cases where natural additives have positive effects on human health, overall, it is the need to feed the growing world population that has resulted in adoption of manufactured foods as an alternative to the naturally grown food (Boye & Godefroy 185). Food additives and preservatives are added to foods to enhance them, change tastes and enhance preservation. Jeon looks into increased use of food additives but does not point out the extent to which these additives are harmful to the human body. Nonetheless, the author holds the opinion that food additives should be used, but consumers out to be cautious if there are safety concerns on use of certain food additives. This is a critique on the impact of food additives and preservatives, it also highlights that such substances have negative impact on health.
According to Jeon, 90% of the meals consumed by an average American family are processed foods which are most likely to contain additives. Even though, most of the additives have been approved by the FDA, it is still not clear as to what is the long-term impact of such substances. Besides artificial additives in the form of food colorings, there are natural additives like vinegar, salt and sugar. Nonetheless, the main concern in using additives is that the chemical substances have the potential to alter body functions either directly or indirectly and hence they have unseen health effects (Feder 20). Jeon also looks into possible alternatives to additives as well as the safety of using the substances.
The author merely mentions that studies show that there is a likelihood that the additives affect human health, but there is no single article or study quoted to emphasize this point. However, to emphasize on safety of using preservatives, the author focuses on the safety concerns of food preservatives. Even though, preservatives are the man additives used, they are others like antibiotics given to animals, food stabilizers and artificial sweeteners (Tulchinsky & Varavikova 385). The author rightly mentions that BHA and BHT are commonly used before oxidizing fats as these preservatives help to prevent oxidation of fats and oils (Jeon). Natural antioxidants have a positive impact on health as they free radical induce tissue, but synthetic antioxidants maybe dangerous to human health. Overall to appeal to the readers, the author focuses on ethical appeal through highlighting on the health implications of food additives, while also drawing attention to health and environmental matters tackled by the non-governmental organization.
The author does not give a firm position on th...