Globalization of American Food: Criticisms and Issues

The globalization of American food has major consequences for the global food system, although there are deep disagreements about what those consequences are. Opinions about the globalization of American food reflect opinions on globalization itself. In considering the consequences and controversies over the globalization of American food, one enters a minefield of competing perspectives. Some see those consequences as troubling and raising issues about sustainability, food justice, health, and the loss of authenticity in foods, thus reflecting what many consider the dark side of globalization, especially in the context of the overwhelming economic power of the United States, the neoliberal emphasis on free trade and free markets, and growing world food crisis. Such critics suggest that globalization has built-in biases that benefit the more economically developed and powerful nations to the detriment of those that are less developed. Many of these debates coalesce around trade agreements, such as NAFTA, and organizations such as the World Trade Organization. Such trade agreements and organizations aim to reduce barriers to the movements of goods around the world, a situation that many argue favors those countries with more economic power and poses a threat to food sovereignty and access to food in many areas of the world. Some scholars argue that the world faces a possible world food crisis and that the globalization of American food adds to the threat.