For years the United States has adopted the practice of modifying and altering produce and shelved food distributed to the public. It has been reasoned that these additives help with the overall mass production of foods to keep up with the growing population. While the logic is arguably valid, it could also be argued that the inclusion of these chemicals only does more harm than good. Europe has even gone as far as to ban a majority of these chemicals from their food supply — so exactly how safe is American food? Several other nations have found that these same additives used by the United States can negatively impact the environment as well as people. So why should we encourage the U.S. to continue pumping our foods full of harmful chemicals?
What are the alternatives?
While the majority of products in most American grocery stores feature some kind of negative ingredient, there are still alternatives. Some people may view the term “organic” as a scam perpetuated by American news sources — but it’s just the opposite. Organic products allow Americans to grocery shop without worrying about paying for harmful additives. More often than not, now that organic products have grown in popularity, more and more people have begun noticing ingredients in their food they can’t even pronounce. Even things like oat milk or almond milk versus regular cow’s milk have become the new norm. After all, why would you want to willingly drink something that has been pumped full of so many hormones it can physically affect your body?
Organic is accessible
However, a downside most people point out about organic products is their increased price. While this is valid reasoning, there are always alternatives. For example, grocery stores like Trader Joe’s carry more organic products than not. One of the great things about Trader Joe’s is their cheaper prices — so not only are you purchasing safe foods, but at a lower cost. Even if there isn’t a Trader Joe’s near you, most grocery stores have a variety of organic products, some cheaper than others. People should not have to worry about whether or not their source of food is slowly poisoning them — organic foods should be the bare minimum for health reasons alone. After all, there is a reason the majority of U.S. food additives are banned all over the world. If that isn’t evidence enough, just go ahead and look at the ingredients list on an item of food in your home and see how many you actually recognize.