Cheetos are an example of an "optimized" food, created by food scientists after thousands of taste tests. They entered the American diet after Frito-Lay discovered the Cheeto's "bliss point," the point at which it could not taste better. The brain processes this perfect taste of sugar with the same neurons with which it experiences narcotics. This is why processed foods are so difficult to stop eating.
The U.S. food industry has pushed the American diet in a catastrophic direction. Today, one-third of Americans are clinically obese. The frequency of diabetes and heart disease is skyrocketing. Americans are eating less fast food, but food giants have moved into the grocery store, leading to spikes in sodium, carbohydrate and fat consumption.
This is the subject of Michael Moss' new book, "Salt Sugar Fat," which looks at the events that led the shelves of grocery stores around the world to be lined with these familiar products. Moss is the same reporter who broke the story about pink slime, or the "lean finely textured beef" that Beef Products, Inc. used to make its ground beef cheaper. For his new book, he contacted executives from Kraft, Nestle and other food giants to try to figure out how the American diet became so snack-centric.
Beyond what the food giants do internally, Moss points out a broader issue in the American diet: the largest food companies are doing work in conjunction with the government. Even as First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" campaign encourages healthy eating and exercise habits in children, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture discourages Americans from consuming saturated fat, the government spends $10 to $15 billion per year in farm subsidies that may not be helping the nation's food industry.
With these subsidies, the number of farms is still down 70 percent since the 1930s, signaling a change from small farms to corporate farms. Further, since 1995, 6 percent of farm subsidies have funded only four products: two types of corn syrup, along with cornstarch and soy oil. This distortion in funding encourages farmers to grow corn and soybeans key junk food ingredients rather than fruit and vegetables, which Americans should be eating more of.
Big food has not just benefited from subsidies, but also from the efforts of marketing agencies such as Dairy Management Inc., which has worked with chains such as Taco Bell and Pizza Hut to incorporate more cheese in their products. The USDA actually helped create Dairy Management. This might satisfy the government's desire to prop up dairy farmers, but Americans have started consuming cheese in a morbidly unhealthy way, to the tune of 33 pounds per year per person on average.
At the same time, some regions in the nation, called food deserts, only have access to the unhealthy food that the government is helping to peddle. Dartmouth students are lucky to have many healthy options. Not only do our dining halls put in effort to provide us with a variety of fruits and vegetables, but the entire Upper Valley is home to farms that sell produce, meat and dairy.
Yet Hanover is the exception, not the rule. In food deserts, convenience and pricing lead to most residents to purchase food that Hanover residents would find at the gas station. These areas lack not only Co-Ops, but also chain grocery stores.
The government needs to make a fundamental change in the way that it promotes national agriculture so that both farmers and consumers benefit. Thiswould require a switch from focusing on corporate profits to ensuring access to fresh produce, dairy and meat across the country. Food subsidies should not disproportionately encourage farmers to grow crops that are often directly translated into fast food.
More funding should be transferred to subsidize fresh fruits and vegetables, especially since apples are currently the only fruit or vegetable funded. An increase in the number of farmers growing fresh produce would cause prices to drop and lead to higher quality fruits and veggies. This change would not eliminate the junk food altogether, but would make it easier for more Americans to eat healthily.
