Who (or what) is the villain in the fight for ending world hunger?

This week, the class explored issues surrounding the ethics of eating meat and the growing food insecurity crisis in the world. The main point that resonated with me was found in the jaw-dropping film Okja, which explores a hypothetical scenario in which a large corporation decides to create a breed of super-pigs to supply food to a ballooning world population. While the primary goal of the film was to bring the ethical issues of eating meat on an industrial scale to the attention of the audience, the theme of the food industry lying to consumers in order to create a product to fight food insecurity grabbed my attention. In this way, The Mirando Corporation is similar to Soylent Green, another infamous fictional food corporation which uses questionable ingredients in their products, while lying to the consumer about the origin of their ingredients. In any case, malnourishment is one of the most prevalent issues in the real world. Today, nearly one in nine people worldwide will struggle with food insecurity, mostly in the developing world. With a global population expected to swell to over nine billion people by 2050, something needs to be done to feed the world. The films Okja and Soylent Green show the absolute worst case scenarios of fixing the global hunger crisis, full of corporate dishonesty, corruption, and massive profits. My question then is as follows; What should corporations and consumers do to avoid devolving into the dystopian scenarios presented in Okja and Soylent Green, while still providing enough food for a growing world? To explore this question, I will first compare the unethical practices of The Mirando Corporation and Soylent Green. Then, I will present some actions that real-world corporations and consumers can take to provide for the world, while actually increasing profits and saving money.

In Okja, The Mirando Corporation creates genetically modified super pigs in order to corner the meat market, and profit off of the fight against food insecurity. To make the super pigs acceptable to the public eye, Mirando decides to hold a massive competition among 26 farmers across the globe to see which methods are the best to raise these massive animals. The competition was simply a marketing ploy, of course, as the company had been creating hundreds of these pigs, all of which are held at a massive slaughterhouse. One of these pigs, Okja, was reared on a South Korean farm by Mija, who sees him as a loving companion, and one of her greatest friends. After the ten-year competition comes to a close, Okja is taken from South Korea to New York City to show off. While the Mirando Corporation's dishonest and disgusting business practices are exposed by the Animal Liberation Front, Okja still ends up being sent to the massive slaughterhouse mentioned earlier. In a disturbing, yet touching scene, Mija is able to save Okja by trading a golden pig for her life. The scene emphasizes the corrupting effects of money, and how ethically problematic an industrial scale feeding operation is. Soylent Green is arguably more ethically questionable, as the secret ingredient isn't a genetically modified pig, it's dead human beings. In Soylent Green, the world is heavily polluted, and New York City is overpopulated and facing a food supply crisis. The Soylent corporation claims to have the solution, providing the public with patties that they claim are made of Soy, Lentils, and a special Algae found in the Atlantic Ocean. Their whole operation is exposed when a mysterious murder involving an employee of the company is investigated by an NYPD detective. The Soylent Corporation attempts to shut the investigation down at the source, using their social pull to corrupt the New York Police, but the detective pushes on, drawn by his own curiosity. The corruption of the Soylent Corporation is shown through the immense concentrated effort to hide the source of the Soylent Patties primary ingredients from their hungry consumers, due to the fact that none of their customers would ever buy their products if they knew they were essentially corporate-endorsed cannibalism. Both of these films are worst-case scenarios at the intersection of business and humanitarian actions. The problem of world hunger cannot be solved through these despicable practices. What can solve it, and how do we get the profit-motivated companies on board?

Reducing the amount of food waste globally is crucial to ending world hunger. There is only so much land available for agriculture, and water is not a limitless resource. However, the inefficiencies in the food industry, as well as rampant overconsumption by the first world, lead to approximately one-third of all food produced going to waste. Grocery stores throw away absurd amounts of perfectly edible food because it doesn't fit their standards in some fashion. There are many inefficiencies in the food production process as well; for example, 75% of all jackfruit produced in India goes to waste due to inefficient harvesting, a lack of refrigerated transportation, and few processing plants. Jackfruit is important for feeding the world for other reasons, but that is beside the point. The films mentioned earlier paint Corporate America as the villain in the fight against food insecurity, but they just have a hand in the wastefulness of the first world. Food waste is virtually nonexistent in the developing world, as they do not have the luxury of choice; the needy will eat food because they need to survive, not just for the flavor. Everyone can play a role in the fight against food waste, simply by being a responsible consumer. We don't even have to be totally waste-free; if we reduced food waste by just one-fourth, we would have enough food to feed the entire world, and no one would have to suffer from malnutrition. Reducing food waste is in the best financial interests of everyone involved, as wasted food is essentially throwing away money. Reducing food waste has numerous benefits for the world, from reducing hunger to reducing carbon emissions. Simply put, reducing food waste is a win for everyone.

In conclusion, solutions to the world hunger crisis do not have to lead to dystopian scenarios and evil corporations screwing over the world in the interest of profit. Currently, there is more than enough food produced in the world to adequately feed all seven-billion people on the Earth today. Reducing food waste is the easiest way to contribute to the fight to end world hunger. You don't even need to be guilt-tripped into donating your own money to the cause in order to help. The population of the world is growing, and food production does need to be ramped up in order to feed everyone; however, we do not need to take drastic, morally questionable actions in order to provide enough food in the future. The future of food is not genetically-modified super pigs or corporate induced cannibalism. It doesn't have to destroy the environment through industrial pollution, deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions warming the globe. It is simply mindfulness in consumption and a minimal amount of self-accountability when purchasing, preparing, and eating food. So, next time you take a trip to the supermarket for groceries, go out to eat at a restaurant, or even grab food from The Commons at all-you-care-to-eat meals, think about how much food you will actually eat, and only take what you need. The future of world hunger hangs in the balance.

By: Josiah Colby

Word Count: 1230