Food Adulteration: A Growing Problem in the 19th Century - Essay Sample

Introduction

Food adulteration has become a common thing in the 19th century. People have changed from depending on agricultural food to processed foods and this is the likelihood of consuming food which contains foreign materials which might be poisonous to us without knowing. Food adulteration is, therefore, the failure of food products to meet the required legal standards. Various reasons lead to food adulteration and one includes the addition of other substances in food to enhance quantity to get more profit without considering food quality.

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In the 19th century, food additives and adulteration is viewed as a negative and illegal act that should be abolished. Although manufacturers add other substances in some food items for profit gain, it is against the Government requirement. The Government of various nations has set standards to be met by each manufacturer is required to abide by such standards to ensure that the public does not consume food which endangers their lives. It was viewed as a negative act because it contributes to poor quality of life and this led to the increase and creation of more advanced food chemistry and professionalism of food analysts which operate within a new regulatory framework.

There were various arguments about food adulteration in the 19th century. These arguments were geared towards eradication and reduction of the extent to which it is done in various countries. Some people believe that food adulteration is not real and it is just a way in which some companies use to prevent other companies from entering their industry to enjoy a monopoly. It is also argued that food alteration is done to increase the life of food items and improve the state of the food item. For example, salt was being added to meat to ensure that it stays for a longer time while honey, some herbs, and chalk are added to some food substances to improve the taste or to act as a preservative. Other people argue that food adulteration is done for economic gain but not to reduce the quality of life of people. Hassal argues food adulteration by various producers and dealers continues to spread with the increase in population. This will happen as the population of various cities increases and becoming spread. People will continue to eat poisoned food and it will be very difficult to deal with the threat of food adulteration. The argument is based on the assumption that producers seek high-profit margin and monopolization of their products and to minimize cost f their production, they must add some additives to increase taste and quantity to gain competitive advantage.

Further argument was that adulteration is a great concern from the time when people have turned away from agricultural products to processed food products due to civilization. Adulteration reduces food quality and also causes various serious illnesses such as cancer that are difficult to treat. As a result, most scholars argue that there is a need to carry out authentic food testing and detection of food products to evaluate their value and ensure there are proper consumer protection measures to prevent illegal adulteration activities.

Other scholars argue that there is also a need to be more concerned about the safety of the food people eat. There was a belief that there is health risk imposed by eating adulterated foods and therefore there is a need to develop regulations that allow the use of various methods such as biochemical/immunological methods for identifying adulterated foods. This will protect the public on eating contaminated food items thus minimizing health risk such food impose on people.

There are several fears reflected in works on food adulteration. People fear that food adulteration will spread with the spread and increase in the world population. Food adulteration will be in most products and it will be a great threat to human life because it will impose health risks on people by causing various diseases that can be prevented but not treated. It is also reflected in works of adulteration is that dealers and producers of various food items add various products such as salt, chalk and lead for commercial gain. Business owners add these items to improve the quantity and taste of their products to gain a competitive advantage. Furthermore, dealers and producers of these products and food items are not concerned about what they sell to their consumers but the profit they earned from their products. In reality dealers and producers of various food products have no intention to harm the life of the people or their customers, they only seek ways in which they can maximize their products and lengthen the life of their products so that they do not make losses in their business. The authors address readers to be very careful about the kind of food they eat. They also concerned about the risk those producers of various foot items impose on people. Therefore there is a need to put serious measures such as the use of various techniques to test food products before selling them to the public. They should be very cautious when buying food items from various dealers to ensure they eat uncontaminated food items which impose greater risk on their health.

References

Kamalam, S. (2017). Food Hygiene and Prevention of Food Adulteration. Essentials in Community Health Nursing Practice, 518-518. doi:10.5005/jp/books/12932_25

Kamruzzaman, M. (2016). Food Adulteration and Authenticity. Food Safety, 127-148. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-39253-0_7

Manning, L., & Soon, J. M. (2018). The value of product sampling in mitigating food adulteration. A Handbook of Food Crime, 127-140. doi:10.1332/policypress/9781447336013.003.0009

Shrivastava, A., & Kumar, R. (2018). Introduction (Food, Food Fraud, History of Adulteration). Frontiers in Drug Safety, 1-12. doi:10.2174/9781681086750118010004

Spink, J. (2014). Safety of Food and Beverages: Risks of Food Adulteration. Encyclopedia of Food Safety, 413-416. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-378612-8.00300-0