The food system Flashcards
Obesity and malnutrition arise from what circumstances? (4)
•Both of these states arise under a complex set of circumstances
–Social, Economic, Psychological and Biological
•We can not start to treat obesity and eliminate malnutrition unless we understand all these causes
What is the food system?
•The ‘food system’ includes all the processes that take place from farm to plate
•Many authors have argued that our current food system has directly led to a state of over-abundance in the 1st world and hunger in the 3rd
What was our hungry past like? (10)
•From the industrial revolution (and before) to the start of WW1 a sizeable portion of the population in Western countries lived in a state of chronic malnutrition
•The consequence of this was premature death…
–During this period, of every 1000 infants, only 200 would reach the age of 50 and only 100 the age of 70, most were dead before age 5
–A man of the 18th century who reached 50 would likely have buried his parents, his wife, half his children, as well as numerous other relatives. If he got to 70, he would probably have no relatives and friends from his own generation
•Most people were dependent upon wheat -bread
–During this time fluctuations in wheat prices correlated strongly with mortality rate in cities
–In rural areas a mortality crisis ensued when wool prices were low and wheat prices high -people then could not afford to eat
•Consequences of chronic malnutrition
–You might imagine that inanition (exhaustion from lack of food) would be the main cause of death
–Well it was for some, but if you are malnourished your immune system becomes compromised
•Pregnant women give birth to low birth-weight babies who are then prone to opportunistic infection
•Malnourished children act as a pool to start smallpox epidemics
•Vulnerable adults and the elderly succumb to secondary infections from common ailments (colds and flu)
How is the present different from our hungry past? (3)
Chronic malnutrition is now rare in Western industrialised nations
•We live generally long, happy and well fed lives in stark contrast to our recent ancestors
•The principal reason for this is that our food supply has become so secure, and food so cheap, that most of us are not aware of what a massive achievement this is -in terms of human history
What were 2 problems with the food system in the past?
Cost of food
Food security
How was the cost of food a problem in the past? What are 2 ways to address the high price of food?
•In the 17th, 18th and 19thcentury many people had insufficient money to purchase sufficient food to thrive -food was just too expensive
•Between the 17th and 19th Century, working people, on average, had to spend around 80% of their income on food
•The % of income needed to be spent on food between 1900-2003 in the US -this dropped from 42% to 13% over that time
•In the US, in 1900, you needed 1700 hours of work to buy a year’s food, now you only need 260 hours work
•There are two ways to address the high price of food
–Drive the cost of food down
–Drive wages up
How was food security a problem in the past? And what are 2 solutions?
•Also in this period food supply was more fragile, dependent upon good weather and no disease
•This drove the cost of food up during such periods
•This could be solved by
–Improved agricultural practices
–Reliance on national and international sources of food, rather than just local sources
What were 9 solutions to the past food system?
- Mechanisation
- Green revolution
- 4 crop rotation system
- Food preservation
- Canning food
- Freezing food
- Cooling
- Chemical
- Bulk transport
How did mechanisation help the past food system? (3)
–Farming practices improved with mechanisation
–The Rotheram plough (1730)
•More efficient at cutting, lifting and turning soil
•Increased the amount of land that could be cultivated and the yield from fields where it was used
–The seed drill (Jethro Tull, 1701)
•Reduced labour needed for sowing seed (reducing cost)
•Reduced the volume of seed needing to be sowed (leaving more to eat)
•Optimally distributed seed increasing yields
–Threshing machine (1830)
•Mechanised a highly labour intensive chore of separating wheat from chaff
What is the 4 crop rotation system? (6)
•First developed in Germany and introduced to the UK by Lord Townshend in 1730
–Barley and wheat (alternate years)
–Winter crop of turnips (each year)
–Followed by clover (nitrogen fixing)
•This reduced pests
•Increased fodder for livestock (clover, turnip heads)
•The manure from the livestock was used on the fields
How did the Green Revolution help the past food system? (3)
•The Green revolution, with its reliance on oil based products
–Pesticides -50 fold increase in use since 1950 and current use at around 2 million tonnes/year (insecticides and herbicides)
–Fertiliser (especially ammonium nitrate) are very energy intensive to make and consume 1% of world energy output
–These combined (with better irrigation) led to a doubling of cereal crop yields per hectare between 1961-1985
•All of these -mechanisation, crop rotation and the green revolution led to increased yields, lower prices and better food security (i.e. a surplus for ‘bad’years -but this relied upon another technological leap -storing food…)
How did canning food help the past food system?
–First developed by Appert (using glass jars) in France (1806) in response to a call for an effective means of food preservation for the French army in the Napoleonic wars
–The technology was picked up by Donkin and developed further in the UK
–At first cans were hand made of iron with a tinplated interior and soldered shut with lead taking 20-30 mins to make each can
–The cans were heated prior to sealing so that a vacuum was created which (was thought) to preserve the food
–In fact it was the combination of heating and the vacuum that preserved food
–As heating was often inadequate anaerobic bacteria could thrive in the cans leading to outbreaks of often fatal food poisoning
–By late Victorian times these problems were solved and canned foods started to make an impact on the mass market
How did freezing help the past food system?
–First used by the Tang Dynasty in China to preserve fruits for the emperor in winter
–Adopted by the wealthy in the 1830’s in the UK (ice houses)
–Large scale industrial refrigeration was developed in Australia to assist the manufacture and storage of beer
–This was soon applied to meat, cheese, butter and milk exports, with refrigerated ships making their first appearance in 1877
How did cooling and chemicals help the past food system?
•Cooling
–Large storage facilities were developed to keep certain crops such as potatoes for many years
•Chemical
–The use of nitrates to preserve meat products such as sausages and pies
How did bulk transport help the past food system?
•The train made bulk transport of grain and meat, cheap and practicable
•In the US between 1860-1900, 400M acres of land came under the plough
–This grain made its way to rail heads where it was then moved to the coast for shipment to Europe
–This saved Europe from famine in 1870
–A similar story for beef, with animals moving up various trails to rail heads, then moved by train to Chicago where they were slaughtered, frozen and moved to the coast by rail for shipping out
•This allowed the development of an international trade in basic food stuffs which continues to this day
