h as butter, cheese, meat, sugar, and others are soaring to new heights and shattering previous records. Despite the starving families who cannot afford basic food items, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently decided to funnel 12 million dollars into the popular pizza chain Domino's Pizza to promote their new extra-cheese pizza. Due to the increased monetary strain on the citizens of the world to purchase these commodities, violent protests and riots have broken out around the world, leading analysts to believe that a global food pandemic may be sooner than previously thought.

Data produced and released by the Food and Agricultural Organizations of the United Nations (FAO) has given the world a look into the drastic price increase of food commodities over the past 10 years. The food index count, which is an overall score reflecting the total price of the top 6 food commodities, rose to 215 in December of 2010 - up from 90 in the year 2000. Sugar spearheaded the spike, hitting only 2 points away from the 400 mark in December of 2010. In response to the outlandish price changes, violent protests and food riots have sprung up in parts of Asia and the Middle East.

Among the food riots and escalating food prices that make up the recent state of food chaos, the USDA has decided to fund Domino's new marketing campaign in a little-known bailout that received almost no mainstream attention. The 12 million dollar bailout is centered around promoting Domino's new pizza that is made with 40% more cheese. Instead of formulating a program which could potentially yield more crops for the starving families worldwide, the USDA has decided that pouring millions of dollars into a pizza chain is a more important venture. The USDA's financial support of Domino's Pizza will undoubtedly lead to more customers, who will consume the cheese-loaded and additive-filled pizza and will surely contribute to the United States' obesity epidemic. While the pizza seems to be healthy for Domino's' sales, consumers are eating away their health with every slice.

With surging food prices and worldwide riots, what will be the end result of this food crisis? Experts speculate that the riots similar to those in the Middle East and South Asia could soon be seen in North America. "We are entering a danger territory," Abdolreza Abbassian, chief economist at the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), says. Experts believe that the short-lived food riots that took place in Haiti, Kenya, and Somalia in 2008 could be a new reality for North America in the upcoming months. As oil prices climb to new highs, and prices of commodities are escalated across the board, citizens of the world are forced to carry the debt.

Despite the looming threat of a global food catastrophe, it is very possible to sustain yourself in the event that this occurs. Growing your own organic produce and purchasing storable food are great ways to ensure that you have a steady food supply amid uncertain economic times. The s510 Food Safety Bill, of course, threatens this right, though a concerned and audacious public has the power to counter the implementation of the bill. In the face of uncertain times, living off the grid is essential. Gloomy economic times may act as a reminder that it is of extreme importance to be self-sustainable.

Sources:

http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituati...

https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/u...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kerry...

http://www.businessinsider.com/un-f.

Feb. 11, 2011

www.naturalnews.com/031286_USDA_food_crisis.html