Produce an individual 1600 word report summarising the key issues Essay

Produce an individual 1600 word report summarising the key issues raised in the article. The summary should include references f - Essay Example A number of law suits have been slapped on the fast food industry, citing its failure to label its food as containing high cholesterol, fat and salt. Carlo Petrini founded Slow Food Movement in 1986, in the Cuneo province in Italy, which was a response to a McDonalds being opened in the Piazza di Spagna in Rome (Petrini and Watson, 2001, p.22). This nonprofit making organization has its headquarters in Bra in the Italian Alps and the membership is voluntary and free. The main objective of the Slow Food Movement is to encourage participation in traditional preparation and eating of food and also promoting local products. Its symbol is the snail which might be the organization’s way of telling people to take eating and life in general easy as compared to being on the fast lane (Hayes and Laudan, 2008, p.921). But this should not be taken to mean that its pace in creating the effect it wants is slow as well. The Slow Food Movement has its own manifesto called the Ark of Taste Man ifesto and its main aims are; protect the people who produce fine food from the standards of the industry, to protect endangered species such as animal breeds, cereals, fruits and cheeses from extinction. It also aims to encourage taste education, to stop the killing of the natural character of some production due to worry over hygiene and finally to ensure that people enjoy their rights to pleasure. For products to qualify as Ark products, they must; be of great quality and have a relationship with the area of production. They must also be produced in small quantities, be in danger of extinction and must be specific to a certain area (Jones et al 2003, p.300). The Slow Food Manifesto on Biotechnologies addresses the issue of transgenic foods these are genetically modified products, and it states that these foods cannot be justified just because they are cost effective. The other factors have to be considered such as the problems they bring to the environment, health, the society an d also if it is ethical (Wilk, 2006, p.33). The long term and short term effects of these genetically modified foods are not easy to identify. The biotechnologies will lead to disappearance of crops and plants that are traditional due to reduction in biodiversity, the manifesto says. The use of modified organisms on foods necessitates the use of plant protection products and large scale land exploitation which has negative impacts on biological diversity. Slow food also addresses its concern on the effects that the genetically modified foods might have on the taste and organoleptic range of cooked foods (Suri, 2008). People consume food and the pleasure it brings them might have negative effect psychologically and socially. Slow Food established a movement called Slow City in 1999 whereby Italian cities and towns encouraged people to be loyal to their culinary traditions thus improving their quality of life (Newman and Jennings, 2008, p.195). The Slow Food movement has grown from it s startup days where its main protest was about McDonalds to an international organization. It does not only seek to change the concept of fast foods but also the impact of technological and social and economic change. However it does not seem as if the Slow Movement can cause a big threat to the fast food industry.