Synthesis

Industrially produced foods make up a significant proportion of the foods consumed in the United States. My paper aims to discover how the accessibility of these foods in terms of cost, convenience, and advertising affect the eating habits of Americans. One camp, which I shall refer to as the Necessity group, including authors Hurst and McWilliams, believes that these industrially produced foods are necessary to feed the populace at a reasonable price, and without it, many people would go hungry. Another camp, which I shall refer to as the Choice group, including authors Pollan and Foer, believe that eating habits are a matter of personal choice, and it is not the accessibility of the foods that largely affects eating habits, but rather the education and motivation of the population. The last camp, which I shall refer to as the Fattening group, including authors Larson & Story and Freeman, believes that the accessibility of industrially produced foods has a negative impact on peoples' health, especially for the low-income. Understanding the health implications of highly accessible industrially produced foods can help guide policy making and personal choices to decrease obesity and food-related disease incidence in the United States. The Necessity camp, including authors Blake Hurst and James McWilliams, agree that highly accessible industrially produced foods are the way of the future and that they make feeding the nation a more attainable goal. Their argument relies on the assumption that without industrial produced foods, the current state of agriculture in America would not be able to supply enough food to meet the demand. This Necessity group argues that it is through technological advancement that food can become both cheaper to produce and healthier in the long run, and the processed foods industry, which makes use of many of these