Why

Food

FYI?

Today, American culture revolves around immediate gratification from communication down to the tomatoes at the grocery store. This is problematic because how do people know what’s in that tomato? Do people even know what all of these “natural” labels on health foods mean? In some cases, ignorance may seem like bliss, but you should not be ignorant when it comes to the places you’re buying your food from.

Food FYI was created to research the shopping habits of college students in hopes of helping them pay attention to where they shop and what most of them look for in a product. The goal is not to encourage them to shop at certain stores over others, but rather to raise awareness in hopes of encouraging them to do more research on where they are buying their food from. By doing so, this awareness will hopefully grow into a personal desire for less instant gratification and bad shopping habits with healthier choices and wiser shopping decisions.

The Dangers of

Greenwashing

Anyone can reasonably comprehend that being part of being healthy is buying foods that were grown in a healthy way. Therefore, it would make sense to buy foods being advertised as "natural" and “green.” However, these terms can be deceptively coded by third-party companies to make the consumer believe the products they are buying are kind to themselves and their environment when, in fact, the opposite is often true. This is what is called “Greenwashing.”

Webster Dictionary defines greenwashing as “the act of misleading customers and potential customers into believing that a product or service is environmentally friendly.” *

As a consumer, it is important to know about greenwashing so that you can avoid being deceived. For steps on how to stay informed and not be misled, read this helpful article by the Food Revolution Network: https://foodrevolution.org/blog/how-to-avoid-greenwashing/

* Greenwashing. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2019, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/greenwashing.

How to Get Involved with FoodFYI

Here's the easy part.

Simply share your food eating and buying habits on any social media platform with the hashtag #FoodFYI.