Should a company have the power to decide what information to give consumers about the food it produces?

Food Health Journal

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Food Health Journal
Focus Question 1: Who is responsible for keeping our food safe?
Food Question Response
When at home and preparing non-processed food, individuals are the ones responsible for keeping their food safe. However, when eating at a restaurant or buying processed and ready-made food at supermarkets, the individual’s hands become tied, and the people involved in food processing and preparation become responsible for keeping food safe. Every person involved in the food processing and preparation processes is responsible for keeping our food safe . An individual might have the best food choices and be sensitive in choosing good food, but without genuine and safe preparation processes, the efforts to eat safe food will have little to no effect. For example, when an individual chooses to eat a healthy meal, say bean stew, but the cooks use unhealthy additives, the individual’s choice of eating healthy and safe plant food will have little effect. For this reason, individuals who process and prepare food are responsible for keeping our food safe by ensuring that every ingredient while processing the food or preparing it is fit for human consumption.

Counter Position To This Food Question
No one is responsible for keeping our food safe, regardless of how we acquire the food or the place of preparation. Trying to narrow down an individual or entity responsible for keeping our food safe might be challenging because many individuals are always involved in the process before the food arrives at the table ready to eat or on top of our shelves ready to prepare. Assigning blame to one entity or individual may not be fair. For example, when the processing or packing industries and restaurants do their best to keep food safe for customers to consume, but the farmer who primarily produced the food used unsafe methods or even products, the blame shifts. On the other hand, when all involved parties except one try their best to keep food safe, the process will still have defects. This situation shows that it is challenging and maybe impossible to narrow down blame or assign responsibility to an individual or entity in keeping food safe.

Focus Question 2: Should a company have the power to decide what information to give consumers about the food it produces?
Food Question Response
No, a company should not have the power to decide what information to give customers about the food it produces. Customers deserve the right to know the kind of food they are buying through the information concerning the food from the company . Depriving customers of any information about the food a company produces is similar to depriving the customer of the right to exercise free choice. Free choice is vital and effective to ensure consumer loyalty and a morally upright business process. For example, if an individual dislikes a particular ingredient in a product, the act of withholding information that would have shown the presence of that ingredient in the product would be a form of malpractice geared at luring individuals to buy a product even if they would not want to buy it (Rai et al., 2019). Customers deserve to have all the necessary information concerning a product to genuinely buy the product, promoting business ethics and transparency.
Counter Position To This Food Question
Yes, a company should have the power to decide what information to give customers about the food it produces. Because it is a business, companies have unique strategies to maintain a competitive edge . Being forced into giving all the information concerning the food it produces will deny companies the ability to retain or maintain a competitive edge. For example, when a company gives all the information to customers about the food it produces, other companies can easily use that information to make their companies better, making the market non-competitive, a challenge to customers because there will be no distinction between excellent and ordinary companies. Additionally, organizational brands and culture will not have significant effects because products will also not have significant differences.

References
Men Then Vs Now. (2019, October 19). Sugar coated – White death is everywhere. 2015 documentary! [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/3xbac4P7l84
Rai, P. K., Lee, S. S., Zhang, M., Tsang, Y. F., & Kim, K. H. (2019). Heavy metals in food crops: Health risks, fate, mechanisms, and management. Environment international, 125, 365-385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.01.067

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