Saturday, August 22, 2009

Loco-ly Groan Feuds

I recently read an article ( http://www.alternet.org/environment) about how Frito Lays is trying to advertise their chips as "Locally Grown", of course my first response was "BULLSHIT!" However, I decided to check out their website www.fritolay.com to see what I could find out.
I discovered that they have or at least purchase from 80 farms across the country that could be 1.5 farms per state (we do still have 52 states right?) that's not to shabby. However, the chips are only made in 21 locations nationwide, that's like 1 factory (don't even think they are made in anything resembling a kitchen) per every 2.5 states. To an extent I can see Frito Lay's self proclaimed green-ness, compared to other chip manufacturers they probably are very local, that is as long as the potatoes for each plant are supplied by the nearest farms (good luck with that one).
I know, what you may be thinking, "hey, at least they're beginning to make an effort." Don't count on it! More than likely, they as are so many large corporations (Monsanto) are simply trying to cash in on the Green and Local trend, by fooling us into believing they care about our foods as much as we do (or should), c'mon, this is the same company that makes Doritos, Tostitos, Cheetos, Frito's and Sun chips-dear god, is there anything you don't fry?! Oh but they are fried in oils with no trans-fat, oil with omega-3's-whoop-dy frickin-do! Last I checked, a chip wasn't going to help save anyone from type II diabetes or heart disease. But I digress.
If you check out the ad gallery on their website you see images of "Farmers" in front of fields of potatoes, tractors, and people holding potatoes in their hands. I know we all still feel comforted by the agrarian backdrop with a green tractor and red barn when we think about our foods, we think of someone lovingly pulling our veggies from the ground with their honest, hard workin hands. The reality is that while the fields pictured may well be real, the farmers and equipment are likely false, and it's more likely that a worker would be reprimanded if they were to dare touch the product with their bare hands, hell, the government might even fine them for it. No, sorry folks but this is most likely a facade, projected to lull you into a false sense of camaraderie so you'll do what you're meant to do buy, buy, buy and especially buy more over-processed and nutritionally bankrupt vegetables and genetically modified grains.
The moral to this story is "don't be an idiot!" It's your on decision what you eat, and honestly, you could do a lot worse than some of Frito lays products, at least when it comes to snack time, but don't let them pull the all natural, locally pastured Lamb's wool over your eyes with their advertising, a chip grown in an overly fertilized and pesticide ridden mega farm field and processed in a fully mechanised fryer warehouse two to three states away is still just that.
An extremely unfortunate twist here is that if I were anyone of importance, if I were to have all the facts on my side and were to make them public, I would be in the wrong, legally speaking. One of the pitfalls of our Capitalist system is that Frito Lay could file suit and likely win to silence my exposure of their facades. While they are free to promote their product as something it is not (trust me they're not the only ones doing it) it is unacceptable for another party to publicly portray that product as an imitation. Hopefully, one day we will grow so tired of being blatantly lied to about what we are eating, drinking and being medicated with that we will demand the kind of transparency that should have been there all along. Trust me, there are no secret ingredients, no proprietary secrets, just unhealthy and illegitimate practices.
Corn it up ya'll!

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