Should You Sue Food Companies For Making You Sick?
Food and Beverage Companies are NOT making us sick. It’s our unchecked vices and our ignorance of entrepreneurship that makes us sick.
The Misconception
Searching the internet, you will find videos, articles, and blogs depicting the evilness of the food industry. Companies are usually depicted in one of two ways:
- Companies are (intentionally) working in concert to produce food that is causing disease (i.e., childhood obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease).
- Companies are producing good and bad food; it is up to us to select the good food from among the options presented.
While sharing their findings, authors provide very little (fair) discussion about how an industry comes into being. When they do, the root cause usually involves an industry wide conspiracy.
Our Vices
In truth, the business paradigm (in general) begins with us, the customer. It starts with our natural inclination towards a healthy self-image, anger, sex, interest in others, food, profit, and rest. (If these inclinations become excessive, as you know, they evolve into pride, wrath, lust, envy, gluttony, avarice, and sloth, respectively.) When we encounter situations or obstacles that halt or impeded our inclinations/wants, the situation represents an opportunity for change.
The Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is a person who hunts for these opportunities. They look for ways to remove impediments, reduce the effort involved, and/or deliver additional benefits. Once an entrepreneur demonstrates (via sales) that s/he is able to deliver value in a given situation, other entrepreneurs are drawn to that situation. They look for additional ways to deliver value based on process, demographics, new knowledge, etc. They are motived to help deliver on our wants, reduce our grievances, and simultaneously make a profit.
An Example
Situation: Strawberry harvesting takes place between June to September.
Our Wants: Surveys (observations) indicate that customers want to eat sweet, bright red, strawberries all year round.
Entrepreneur #1: Source strawberries from other countries with different growth cycles.
Entrepreneur #2: Use food dyes to help the strawberries maintain its appeal.
Entrepreneur #3: Use artificial sweeteners to make sure all of the fruits are equally sweet.
Entrepreneur #4: Use hydrogen peroxide to extend the fruit’s shelf life.
End Result: As each entrepreneur successively enters the market, they are looking to “improve” upon the previous actions taken. This layering, to some, appears conspiratorial in nature. In reality, it is the result of business people working hard to deliver on their customer’s wants. (Their goal is to help, not hurt.)
Combating The Business Paradigm
To combat this phenomenon, we may want to consider taking the following actions:
- Eat food when it is naturally available. (If a particular food is out of season, eat another item that is in season.)
- Answer surveys carefully. (Remember that telling a business what you want may not result in the business delivering on your wants in the way you expect.)
- Try not to become totally dependent on someone else for your food. (Grow some foods and swop with others doing the same thing.)
What do you think?
🤔 Interesting! I didn’t think of this before.
I am happy that I could write something that made you think. Thanks for stopping by. Please take the time to read more of my posts.