Meal Analysis: Investigating the Environmental and Economic Impact

This essay presents a meal analysis of scrambled eggs, sliced apples, yogurt, and coffee, purchased from HEB in Austin, Texas, examining their source, labor policies, packaging, processing, shipping, and ecological and economic impacts. The analysis reveals that eggs are locally produced in Texas, apples are imported from Japan, yogurt is manufactured in Texas using local milk and ingredients from Greece, and coffee is sourced from Brazil by Nescafe. The essay highlights the importance of safe farming and animal husbandry methods, emphasizing adherence to regulations that protect both the environment and workers. It discusses the economic benefits of local production, such as job creation and technology transfer, while also acknowledging the role of international trade in accessing specialized goods. The conclusion emphasizes that both domestically produced and imported items have significant impacts on the economy and the environment, promoting awareness of environmental protection and ethical labor practices.

Running head: MEAL ANALYSIS
Meal Analysis
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MEAL ANALYSIS
Think globally act locally is an initiative that was a part of an environmental movement in the
1960s. ("THINKING GLOBALLY, ACTING LOCALLY REVISITED - The Global Citizens'
Initiative", 2018) It stressed on the need to be aware of existing worldwide environmental
problems like global warming, and to take action to address these issues by making
lifestyle changes in household and community. In this essay, the meal chosen to carry out a meal
analysis is scrambled eggs, sliced apples, yogurt and coffee. The items are purchased from a
local grocery store called HEB store in Austin, Texas and the analysis includes the source, labor
policies, packaging, processing, shipping, and the ecological and economic impacts in the
following sections of the essay.
HEB is a privately owned American supermarket chain based out of San Antonio, Texas.
The meal items under consideration are breakfast items purchased from here (Foundation, 2018).
Eggs are produced locally in a poultry in Texas, the apples are grown in Japan and imported
from there as they are a special variant, or Fuji apples which are grown in Japan. The yogurt is
manufactured in Texas using a few items from Greece to make it an authentic Greek Yogurt. The
milk used is from a local dairy along with ingredients from Greece to give the yogurt the desired
taste. The coffee is Nescafe’s coffee that uses coffee beans from Brazil to make its coffee.
The poultry and the dairy have certified claims to be abiding by the regulations of the
animal husbandry act and they have no history of using ill practices as the laws are very strict
and government checks are frequent. Both the cows who aid at the making of the yogurt on the
chickens whose eggs are used are maintained in a good manner which does not go against the
regulations in place for protection of animals. The apples are hybrid apples grown in the orchards
of a place called Fuji in Japan and it follows the farming practices which do not have adverse

2MEAL ANALYSIS
effects on the environment. It is grown in fall and it makes the use of pesticides to prevent
infestation of insects and apple scabs. The labor employed are seasonal labor the apples are not
grown and harvested all year long. This plantation also requires fertilizers for the soil as a
particular soil condition, pH level is required, and other plants are required to be planted in a 50
feet radius for pollination of the seeds to occur. Finally, the coffee is grown in coffee plantations
in Brazil and Nescafe, being a Nestle product has its set of guidelines, which makes sure the
coffee grown, meet both the quality and environmental measure. Coffee also requires shadow
plants and these plants play a crucial role in retuning soil nutrients. The labor protection fro m
the side of both the government and the company is strong and functional and there is a
dominant presence of a union. Since safe farming and husbandry methods are used and the
regulations in place are stringent, the labor also is well protected.
The eggs are produced in Texas and packed in crates made from paper with proper
compartments to keep the eggs in place and prevent them from cracking. They are processed and
segregated in different categories and accordingly priced and transferred to different suppliers
and various retail store. The yogurt is packed in plastic containers, which are not usually not
reusable. The containers are tested and checked for their quality and the packaging is done in a
way that it can be easily transported. The containers are use and throw containers and this makes
it easy to consume the yogurt anywhere. The coffee is packaged in air-tight glass containers to
prevent any moisture from entering so that the coffee powder and its consistency remains
unchanged. The apples are packed in wooden cartons with cushioning so that the apples don not
get spoilt in transit. They are shipped through air in conditions that would be favorable for their
preservation for further consumption. To ensure this they are polished with a layer of wax to
avoid dents and damages to the apples.

3MEAL ANALYSIS
Among the items analyzed, two are produced locally while two are imported (Moss,
2013). Local production leads to employment as well as revenue generation within the country. It
also leads to flow of technology into the economy as in this case the Greek yogurt was being
made in Texas by importing a few raw materials from Greece. Although it has travelling costs
but since the assumption that has been made is that, it is a borderless world, therefore it is far
more convenient to bring in technology (Subasi, 2014). However, this also deters specialization
as the country can choose to only specialize in those goods in which is excels and import the
other goods from other countries specializing in the production of those like the apples. Given
the recent technology, the apples can also be produced in Texas. Trade is very important and
beneficial for an economy to grow in a consistent manner (Sage, 2014). In a situation where
there are no border restrictions trade should be increased. There is a significant ecological
impact, as people are not causing depletion in the available resources. The animals are being
protected and measures are being taken to not cause any harm to the environment (Wagner,
2015). Although pesticides and fertilizers are used, the rules and regulations by the governments
are very strict which aids to protect the environment. Besides protection of environment, even
the workers are protected by the labor rules and regulations and the existence of unions.
(Hawkes, et al., 2015)
To sum up, the items considered both the domestically produced ones and the imported
items have significant impact on both the economy and the environment. It generates jobs as well
as revenue that helps the economy to grow and specialize. From the ecological perspective, it
makes people more aware about the protection of the environment and the animals and therefore
the farming practices and animal husbandry occurs in a way that does not create any adverse
effect on the environment.

4MEAL ANALYSIS

5MEAL ANALYSIS
References
Foundation, G. (2018). Local & Regional Food Systems. Retrieved from
http://www.sustainabletable.org/254/local-regional-food-systems
Ganglbauer, E., Fitzpatrick, G., Subasi, Ö., & Güldenpfennig, F. (2014, February). Think
globally, act locally: a case study of a free food sharing community and social
networking. In Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported
cooperative work & social computing (pp. 911-921). ACM.
Moss, L. S. (2013). Hayek's borderless economy: his escape from the household model. In FA
Hayek as a Political Economist (pp. 107-122). Routledge.
Roberto, C. A., Swinburn, B., Hawkes, C., Huang, T. T., Costa, S. A., Ashe, M., ... & Brownell,
K. D. (2015). Patchy progress on obesity prevention: emerging examples, entrenched
barriers, and new thinking. The Lancet, 385(9985), 2400-2409.
Sage, C. (2014). The transition movement and food sovereignty: From local resilience to global
engagement in food system transformation. Journal of Consumer Culture, 14(2), 254-275.
Think Global, Buy Local: A new study looks at the impact of buying local produce on local
economies – Food Tank. (2018). Retrieved from
https://foodtank.com/news/2014/04/think-global-buy-local-a-new-study-looks-at-the-
impact-of-buying-local-prod/

6MEAL ANALYSIS
THINKING GLOBALLY, ACTING LOCALLY REVISITED - The Global Citizens' Initiative.
(2018). Retrieved from http://www.theglobalcitizensinitiative.org/thinking-globally-
acting-locally-revisited/
Wagner, I. (2015). The Political Economy of Borders in a'Borderless' European Labour
Market. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 53(6), 1370-1385.