Politics of Food Blog #1

In his article “Bad Food? Tax It and Subsidize Vegetables,” Mark Bittman discusses issues with American eating habits and introduces some resolutions. He states that taxing unhealthy foods with an tariff so the results won't be minimized by other discounts. This would prevent unhealthy habits and make money that can contribute to healthy habits. The tax money would also subsidize hearty green foods. I like that he explored the denial people would have about it and would affect destitute people, “since poor people suffer disproportionately from the cost of high-quality, fresh foods, subsidizing those foods would be particularly beneficial to them” (Bittman 10). This proposal are indeed thoughtful and rational.

In their article "No Lunch Left Behind," Katrina Heron and Alice Water’ are quite strong in informing the reader on the issue with current government funded lunch programs. They discussed that much of the food provided by the National School Lunch Program is just as bad as fast food and meals constantly disappoint to attain the worst health standards. A solution she posed is to lay additional money into the national food program. She suggests out that no hearty foods can actually cost $2.57. By suggesting investing additional money into each meal and a real kitchen, Heron and Waters came up with a profitable scheme.

One source I found useful was "Scary Non-Organic Ingredients That Are Allowed in 'USDA Certified Organic' Foods" (http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/scary-non-organic-ingredients-that-are-allowed-in-usda-certified-organic-foods/). Erin Trauth finds:

According to a 2006 Truth in Labeling report, ingredients such as autolyzed yeast, citrics, cornstarch, enzymes, gums, brewer’s yeast, nutritional yeast, calcium citrate, and natural flavorings can contain MSG.