Our Food in Crisis

“He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth.” (Psa. 104:14)

Is our food in crisis today? It appears to me that it is. These days very few of us are in control of the food we eat. Most of us buy our food at the local supermarket or at small produce stores and meat stores. We have no idea where most of this food has come from. Some of it may be from local sources but a large part of it comes from great distances and also crosses over our borders. Do we really know what we are eating?

Lately we seem to hear of a problem with our food almost every week. We’ve had mad cow disease, avian flu in chickens, worries over the quality of farmed salmon and genetically modified foods which affect almost everything we eat. We also have floods, drought, weather changes and pestilences, which are also having a severe affect on our food.

The Lord provided the Food Laws in Leviticus chapter 11. If we followed these laws we would have good health. Unfortunately today even when we try to obey the Food Laws we cannot guarantee what we are really eating. We feel that we are relatively safe when we eat vegetables and grains. Unfortunately with the new generation of Genetically Engineered (GE) crops we cannot guarantee the quality of our fruits, vegetable and grains. In this article titled BiotechNews, The Next Generation of Genetically Engineered Foods by Elisabeth Abergel in Alive magazine November 2002 we see what is happening. “According to a report by the Genetic Engineering Food Action Coalition, a network of US-based consumer and environmental groups, the release of the biopharm plants may cause food crops to be contaminated. Scientists working for the National Academy of Science in the US agree that GE biopharm crops may pose a risk by mating with crops designed for human consumption, which could lead to the ingestion of novel combinations of chemicals and have unanticipated impacts on human health. There is also the potential that insects and animals will ingest these new substances.” In the same article Elisabeth Abergel says that biopharm crops are “genetically designed to produce both therapeutic and non-therapeutic drugs, as well as industrial chemicals..Just one mistake by a biotech company and we’ll be eating other people’s prescription drugs in our corn flakes.”

Our cattle, chickens and farmed salmon are being given doses of antibiotics and pesticides. The cattle and chickens are fed ground up dead animals in their feed and our farmed salmon are injected with synthetic dyes to give them their pink colour. The milk our children are drinking is tainted with Bovine Growth Hormone.

Food is a necessity of life, but what is the quality of the food we are eating? I believe our immune systems and our thinking are being severely compromised by man’s interference in the production of our food. We have no idea how much our thinking and our health have already been affected by the foods that we have already eaten. “Food is also a political commodity, fought over within families and communities, by global corporate interests and the state. Who controls the food system and who has access to it are matters that should be of concern to society as a whole. This is particularly true when the food system is increasingly controlled by global food traders whose sole concern is turning a profit.” Quote taken from SPARBC magazine Winter 2004 Volume 20 Issue Number 2.

We can do our best to try and eat good quality pure foods by eating organic, free-range meats and organic fruits, vegetables and grains. I believe that God knows we are trying to do our best. These are very complex times. It seems now that even the very simple act of eating has become complicated! We must put our faith in Christ to help us through this time. Perhaps this is a time to concentrate on filling our hearts with the food of faith. God will provide the rest.

“As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness; Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.” (2 Cor. 9: 9-11)