{"id":2548,"date":"2011-06-17T15:49:09","date_gmt":"2011-06-17T19:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cajunchefryan.rymocs.com\/blog2\/?p=2548"},"modified":"2011-06-17T15:49:09","modified_gmt":"2011-06-17T19:49:09","slug":"state-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cajunchefryan.rymocs.com\/blog2\/sustainability\/state-food\/","title":{"rendered":"The State of Food"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Seedlings<\/a><\/div>\n

Beware: That Killer Food <\/strong><\/p>\n

Wilhelm is sitting down to enjoy a peaceful lunch with family and friends at the local neighborhood corner restaurant. Everyone is enjoying a light meal, lively conversation, and in particular he is noshing on a stylishly prepared salad of fresh baby oak leaf lettuce, arugula, baby spinach, grape tomato halves, Greek olives, and sprouts. All is well in the world of culinary bliss restaurant entertainment and dining pleasure!<\/p>\n

Two days later Wilhelm is admitted to the central hospital with violent internal hemorrhaging and intense stomach pains, initial tests show E. coli bacteria has entered his digestive tract system, three days later Wilhelm\u2019s body can no longer fight the infection and dies due to the rare O104:H4 strain of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli<\/a> (EHEC).<\/p>\n

Every time national or international news stories shatter the headlines about food-borne illness outbreaks this issue comes to the forefront again and again. The latest E. coli outbreaks in Europe resulting in 3,406 illnesses and the deaths of 39 people<\/a> underscore the sad state of food safety in our modern industrial societies today.<\/p>\n

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of the more than 76 million estimated food-borne disease<\/a> cases annually, 325,000 people are sent to hospitals every year for food-borne related illness, and of those cases more than 5,000 will die due to complications that arise from contaminated food. We are our own worst enemy, yet we seem to continue living with blindfolds over our eyes, keeping our heads buried in the sand, sweeping any vestige of food related illness and death under the proverbial carpet.<\/p>\n

Modern Science to the Rescue<\/strong><\/p>\n

Modern agriculture marvels at the prospect, harvesting vast quantities of mass produced fruits, vegetables, and animal protein, keeping prices low, and transporting them to markets thousands of miles away. Profit margins vary from animal product to produce, but the huge scale and quantity of output makes up for any slim margins. For example, a tiny edge of just a 1% profit margin on a particular item that yields 300 million pounds of saleable product per year, and let\u2019s say it is sold at $1.00 per pound, the resulting net will line the pockets of the corporate machine with 3 million dollars profit on that one crop. While this is a simple analysis, you get the picture; small margins are okay when the vast quantity produced still yields huge returns. Even if the return is a mere 0.5% profit on this same crop, the net return is still $1.5 million dollars.<\/p>\n

Now, take this simple generic analysis above and apply it to the overall 5.67% profit margin posted in March of 2011 that Fresh Del Monte Produce<\/a> (Stock: FDP) reported, along with their net income of $29.9 million, all those zeros start adding up. I am only using FDP as an economic example of the very successful agriculture business model and money making machine that exists today.<\/p>\n

What does it really cost? <\/strong><\/p>\n

But there are other costs that do not factor into the bottom line for agri-business operating budgets, profit margins, and stockholders dividends. These costs are not measured by business outcomes, but by the costs that society pays for the privilege of being able to buy food products from around the world at relatively reasonable costs.<\/p>\n

How does it cost you in ways other than price?<\/p>\n