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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Land use, water shortages, greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, population growth – is the planet on a doomsday course or can we avoid it? Rarely are we presented with a middle ground offering actual steps that could solve the problem with compromise. You either have to be for organic foods or totally embrace GMO (genetically modified) plants. There is no middle ground.
Eight hundred million people in the world don’t have enough food and 2 billion weigh too much. In both cases the issue is food availability. In developing countries there is not enough food. Part of the reason is agriculture practices and part is often destabilized governments where people can’t stay in place long enough to grow crops. In developed countries we produce more food than the population can use. This can lead to overeating and tremendous food waste.
In the US, 4.1 billion pounds of food is wasted every year. This waste occurs at every link of the food chain from farms, to wholesale and retail segments, to your kitchen. Often use by and sell by date cause both consumers and grocers to dump perfectly useable food. To preserve the world’s resources, we need to consider ways to reduce food waste – donate and recycle rather than discard.
From an agricultural perspective we need to work toward a sustainable food system. Simply defined, sustainable agriculture is the production of food, either plants or animals, using farming methods that protect the environment, public health, communities, and animal welfare. Sustainable farms should be able to feed the population they serve while using resources wisely and allowing the farmer enough income to be a viable business.
There is no one clear path to achieve a global sustainable food supply. It will take innovation and invention by many. For example, if a farmer attempts to grow crops with less water, he may need more fertilizer initially until the crops become more drought resistant. Or he may need to experiment with GMO seeds that are drought resistant.
Many will bristle at this argument because they believe that all GMO foods are inherently bad. But organic farming methods aren’t totally risk free and organic farms often have lower yields. This is not an argument for one or the other. It is simply fact. No agricultural system is without some downside. What we need to do as we move forward is to make all systems work as well as possible and minimize the negatives.
Consumers are skeptical. Concerns about the safety of our food supply and the
tweet-ification of risk has taken actual risk out of context. There is a difference between actual risk and the perception of risk. Many people believe that eating foods grown from GMO seeds is unsafe. Quite the opposite is true. GMO crops are among the most regulated and tested for safety of any crops grown in the US. They are regulated by the US Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration. Most experts agree that eating GMO modified food poses no more risk than eating any food.
According to the Food Information Council because the US food supply has become so safe, consumers focus on smaller issues. More people are concerned about chemicals in their food than foodborne illness. Yet, the risk of harm from GMO plants, additives, preservatives, colors or flavoring agents is incredibly small. But, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) one in six (48 million) Americans will become ill and 3,000 will die annually from eating or drinking a food that is contaminated with a bacteria, virus, parasite or mold. Over 250 foodborne diseases are known. As our food supply becomes more global and our ability to inspect food imports remains weak, foodborne illness is a real and identifiable risk that few think about regularly.
Between now and 2050 the world’s population is predicted to grow to 9 billion. Seventy five years ago, worldwide, women had seven to eight children. By 2050 the average will be two children per woman. Globally births per year are going down. Our challenge between now and 2050 is to find ways to feed our current population. If we can achieve that population rates will flatten and feeding our global population will be possible. We need to move toward a sustainable food system by making organic farming more productive and competitive. At the same time we need to look for ways to transition conventional agricultural to a more sustainable model. And most importantly, we need to educate people about risks – real and perceived – because everyone needs to eat.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with sales of more than 8.5 million books.
Look for:
The Diabetes Counter, 5th Ed., 2014
The Fat and Cholesterol Counter, 2014
The Most Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2013
The Calorie Counter, 6th Ed., 2013
The Complete Food Counter, 4th ed., 2012
The Protein Counter, 3rd Ed., 2011
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
Your Complete Food Counter App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-complete-food-counter/id444558777?mt=8
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to: www.TheNutritionExperts.com.
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