Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From?

At Saint Mary’s College High, where I go to school, we're in the middle of Peace and Justice week with an emphasis on food.

We had our first ever food fair featuring kale pesto pasta, organic bananas and apples, wild rice with tofu and kale, as well as banana based sugar-free chocolate chip cookies. The food fair emphasized the use of organic and locally grown ingredients.

We have also been educated throughout this week by fellow students who have done extensive research on where our food comes from. A majority of the food found in supermarkets like Lucky and Safeway is made by three major companies, Tyson, Smithfield and Cargill, that use genetically modified corn.

It's the same corn that's fed to cows so they can grow bigger and faster at a low cost. This unhealthy ingredient is found in 90% of stores across America. 

We have also learned about the way our meat is produced. Animals are injected with antibiotics and fed foods they are not biologically engineered to eat. Cows and chickens are mass-produced so we can have meat at every meal for a small amount of money.

The goal of this week was to open ours and others’ eyes about the ways in which our food is produced in order to understand how to make ourselves healthier and help other people in need of healthier food.

We conclude Peace and Justice week with a town hall meeting about how to make an abundance of healthy foods like grass fed beef and free range chicken available to people from all economic backgrounds.

Next time you go to a restaurant or buy food at a supermarket think to yourself, where does this food come from?

We are also in the middle of a canned food drive to raise thousands of pounds of healthy food for those in need. Help out by donating canned food to the Alameda County food bank today!