Progress

Here is another facet of my opinion on food production in the United States. Here in the US we are an industrialized country. Our food has kept pace with that industrialization. We produce massive amounts of product everyday. I remember going to the SaraLee Bakery and just being amazed by the volume of product in this very little factory. It is all mechanized and flows continuously from one step to another and ensures the same quality of product from the first output of the day to the 100th to the 1,000th to the very last. We, as americans in general, like the fact that when we open the bag of Grandma Sycamore brand bread we know what it will taste like, the texture, the amount of air. If it is different or unsatisfactory in any way we can contact the company and get a refund. If a person doesn't like the idea of industrialization, then the United States really isn't the country for them. Even farming has been mechanized. For the most part we view industrialization as positive because it makes for a better product at a cheaper price.

The impact of industrialzation on our food product is that we need to use ingredients that will create the the appropriate properties that the consumer will want. For example, we have to investigate which polysaccharides will stand up to the high pressures of flowing quickly through a pipe to be pumped into the mix and still retain the consistency. Which sweetener will retain the water necessary to remain soft in the cookie, but not become sticky? The answers to these questions have lead manufacturers to use the best fat source for their textural properties or the best carbohydrate for the appropriate taste. By and large these are ingredients that have been extracted from one food source to be used in another. It is the unfamiliarity with the names of these compounds that have many people nervous about processed foods.

Take sweeteners for example. A general person would likely be OK with seeing "sugar" or "sucrose" on the ingredient label of a cookie. Sugar has been extracted from sugar cane. The reason they are ok with it is because they are used to consuming it and they are familiar with it. Maltodextrin on the other hand can make that same person a little more nervous about it. If they knew it was made from starch (which can be extracted from potatoes) cut into smaller segments perhaps they wouldn't be so nervous about it. Most if not all ingredients in foods are extracts from other foods.

The exceptions to this rule are notable, aspartame, for example. These synthetic substances go under EXTREME study before they are sent out to the public.

There is another side to this, about growing consumer demand for "natural" products, but I have to write up a lab report before my class so that will just have to wait.