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Annotated Bibliography: The Food Industry
This is an annotated bibliography for research done on the food industry. The references listed focus on unethical practices among the key players in the food industry.
Almas, Reidar. “Food Trust, Ethics and Safety in Risk Society.” (2012).
Almas discusses the ethical issues raised in the food industry that relate to the environment. Unethical practices are very common in the competitive food industry, he says. Walmart, for instance, rolled out in 2011 a fast food line which targeted children who were as young as nine years old. The marketing campaign they organized targeted both the girls and the boys saying that the foods were environmentally friendly in nature. This marketing campaign had two flaws. First of all, they were unethical when they placed unwarranted emphasis on the appearance of a child. They associated the use of their products with coolness and respect. Secondly, they used environmentalism, a very popular movement across the universe, to market fast food products. These two elements are completely unrelated.
Carriquiry, Miguel, and Bruce A. Babcock. “Reputations, market structure, and the choice of quality assurance systems in the food industry.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 89.1 (2007): 12-23.
This article was written by Miguel Carriquiry and Bruce Babcock and talks about ethics in the food industry. In the pharmaceutical field, some of the issues being raised are whether or not doctors prescribe the drugs to their patents based on the most effective ones or based on the incentives provided to them by the manufacturers. Some of these doctors are hosted to lavish events and then showered with gifts during conferences by pharmaceutical companies like PhRMA. Would one say that these doctors’ minds won’t be corrupted by such niceties? Won’t the niceties affect their decisions as they decide what drugs to prescribe? It would be ethical to just provide the customers with the right information so that they can make informed decisions. This makes the marketing strategy’s ethics questionable.
Comstock, Gary. “Ethics and genetically modified foods.” Food Ethics. Springer New York, 2010. 49-66.Comstock wrote this article to discuss the prevailing consumer attitudes towards the genetically modified foods. Producers are eager to increase their production to meet the current high demand for agricultural produce. The ethical issue that arises however is how safe are the genetically modified foods. These genetic modifications used on the plants and animals involve molecular genetics and has created controversies across the world. The genetically modified organisms have been identified as causes of cancer and birth of deformed babies and yet these products are still in circulation proving once more that America is indeed a capitalist nation. The rich will stop at nothing to generate more wealth and continue being rich and a few setbacks here and there are ignored.
Early, Ralph. “Food ethics: a decision making tool for the food industry?.” International journal of food science & technology 37.4 (2006): 339-349.
This journal written by Early Ralph portrays different unethical practices in the food industry. Industries that produce infant formulas have also been on the spotlight for their unethical practices. Nestle has at some point marketed their products in developing countries as a replacement for breast milk. They organized campaigns that aimed at convincing these mothers that what they were offering them was superior to what they were offering their kids as breast milk and was the most modern way of raising a child right. They were oblivious to the reports that said that breast milk led to healthier babies than babies that used their products and persisted in their marketing ventures. Persisting with a false campaign is unethical more so if the products hurt those who buy them. Nestlé’s marketing strategies are therefore ethically questionable.
Royle, Tony. “Realism or idealism? Corporate social responsibility and the employee stakeholder in the global fast‐food industry.” Business Ethics: A European Review 14.1 (2005): 42-55.
Tony talks about the corporate social responsibility and the employee stakeholder in the global fast‐food industry. Fast food companies such as McDonalds concentrate on marketing lifestyle and more often than note direct these ads at children and teens. Most of their marketing is done online as they major in social media advertising. It is not appropriate to aim use ads which use marketing techniques instead of information at prospective customers who lack adequate maturity to treat such messages skeptically. This is unethical as the food sold by fast food restaurants have created a lot of controversies and suspected of causing diseases like cancer and conditions like obesity.
