Milton Friedman Loves McDonalds

Based on the assigned readings from the Omnivore’s Dilemma, the U.S. industrial food economy is strongly rooted in the neoclassical economic paradigm. The Omnivore’s Dilemma is showcasing the US food industry as neoclassical because of its strong grounding and foundation in market based responses. One example that Pollan introduces which would lend credence to the fact that the US Food Industry is more neoclassical is the concept Milton Friedman introduces in his “Monopoly and the Social Responsibility of Business and Labor”, when on page 112 Pollan introduces the McDonald’s printing nutrition information on its packaging. This was a market-based force, driven by consumers to understand what is in their food. McDonald’s said “ok”, and printed the information. They did not go back and alter the recipe to have it be healthier or better for the consumers. They simply said this is what is in it and we don’t care, mainly because people kept buying it. This mirrors Milton Friedman’s point that “there is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits”. McDonald’s is not saying their food is good for you, they are simply printing their nutrition information (alas, it is printed on the packaging which can be seen after you ate/ purchased for McNuggets…[side note: I am happy that my Word 2007 does not view McNuggets as a correctly spelt word] ). Therefore, McDonald’s is simply reacting to consumer demands.

Another example from Friedman’s text that explains the current state of the US Food Industry is in the section entitled “appropriate government policy”. Friedman, and the entire Food Industry (I would assume), support the notion that the only appropriate government intervention is through preventing monopolies from forming. Pollan helps to illustrate this point on page 154 when he explains the role the USDA has played in the labeling of organic. There have been members within the USDA that have worked to change the labeling of organic and the standards associated with it. This is another example showing how Milton and the Food Industry would prefer the process to be. If the government continues to change the standards needed, many companies would prefer to remove the government and regulate the standards within the industry. Although Pollan does not argue this point, it appears to match with Friedman and what the industry would prefer.

Although this is not written about in Pollan’s (he references consumers in chapter 6) text I find it to be an interesting thought I have heard regarding GMO and consumers. One of the main reasons for the expansion of GMOs is because consumers want/ ‘demand’ the same shopping experience every time they shop for food. That’s why we squeeze the tomatoes, fondle the cantaloupe, and grip the apples whenever we are in the produce aisle. We want the fruit to be the same/ perfect. So if you are a producer of said apples you are more likely to adopt GMOs that help make your apples perfect because you have a better chance of selling them to the distributor who sells them to the store, who sells them to the customer. Consumers that seek the same experience with food have initiated a signal to producers that GMOs may be ok because it helps us purchase our food.