“The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000. But the image that’s used to sell the food, it is still the imagery of agrarian America.” In the grocery store we see labels picturing pastures and names of farms on the labels; in reality, however, it is a handful of corporations bringing our food to market, not farmers. Corporations use farm-fresh images to create a specific brand image. The biggest names in the industry are ADM, Cargill, ConAgra, IBP, Monsanto, Swift, and Tyson. These multinational corporations control our food from seed to supermarket and have different methods of communicating information about that food to consumers. In the 1970s, the top-five beef packers controlled 25 percent of the market. Today, the top-four companies control more than 80 percent of the market. Meat-packers, slaughterhouses, seed manufacturers, and food processors operate like monopolies in their control of the U.S. food industry. 

The corporations running the food supply chain in the United States are constantly enhancing production to create larger quantities of food at lower costs. More efficient production processes allow for the distribution of food products to more parts of the world. Yet, the process is not without concern. Food industry jobs are often endangering to employees. Animals are raised and treated in controversial conditions; and many employees find themselves responsible for treating meat with chemicals like ammonia, which creates health issues like diabetes, obesity, and cancer. This, in turn, increases demand for medical professionals and the need for prescription drugs. The effect on stakeholders may even go as far as increasing American reliance on fossil fuels, aggravating the deportation of illegal farm workers whose labor is essential to this food industry, and further increasing children’s addiction to sugar and sweetening substitutes. Where’s the efficiency in that?

A Brief History of Food since 1800

In the early 1800s, the independent farmer was considered the bedrock of American democracy. It wasn’t until the 1950s that the McDonald brothers introduced a factory assembly line to a commercial kitchen for the first time. The assemblyline process taught workers a single task, significantly increased efficiency, and, in essence, created the fast-food industry. Today, “McDonald’s is the nation’s largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes—and the second largest purchaser of chicken.” This strong purchasing power gives fast-food franchise giants, like McDonald’s and Burger King, influence over food supply. This has resulted in diminished need for independent farmers; in fact, prison inmates in the United States now outnumber farmers. Without a network of independent farmers, once the backbone of this country, our food supply must now be controlled by major corporations. Throughout history we have never seen food companies this large and with this much power.

The processing/refining of our foods has also changed significantly in the last century. Americans generally no longer eat “whole” foods like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains; instead, they rely primarily on processed foods. Processing makes more money for corporations, but at what cost to the consumer? “It is a fact that the chronic diseases that now kill most Americans can be traced directly to the industrialization of food: the use of chemicals to raise plants and animals in huge monocultures; the superabundance of cheap calories of sugar and fat produced by modern agriculture; and the narrowing of the biological diversity of the human diet to a tiny handful of staple crops, notably wheat, corn, and soy. These changes have given us the Western diet that we take for granted: lots of processed foods and meat, lots of added fat and sugar, lots of everything– except vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.” 

The Industrial Food Supply Chain

Unethical activity takes place at all steps of the industrial food supply chain: the animals; the growers of our food, the workers in their factories, the influence extended on our legal system, the planet Earth, the health care system, and ultimately the consumer....

Questions for Discussion

1. What are the most significant issues in this case, and are these really that important to you?

2. Who are a few of the major stakeholders and their stakes in this case?

3. Are the issues in this case national or global in nature? Explain.

4. Who is responsible, and why, for problems presented and argued in this case?

5. Are there any positive steps being taken to rectify the problems this case presents? If so, please identify them.