Why is meat and junk food so cheap in the U. S?

[Anonymous]

I just moved here a few months ago from Italy with my husband.
And well there are two things that were quite obvious in the supermarket.

1) vegetables are expensive. In most cases there isn't a huge difference but it adds up. That you get radishes for 20 cents (0.26$) or a pound of carrots for 50 cents (0.65$) or a kg tomatoes for 1 euro (1.30$) just doesn't really happen here

2) Meat and junk food is very cheap in comparison. In general we don't have as many junk food isles and the food there is way more expensive that it is here, so hardly anyone buys it.

I don't know why that is. My husband said because people eat more meat here that's why it's cheaper to produce. But I don't see that. How does it get cheaper to raise and slaughter animals if you have a few million more of them?
I also don't buy that supermarkets here makes less profit of it.

And as for junk i have no theories. Neither does my husband. So anyone?

[akadatank44]

Meat would be cheaper compared to Italy here because we have the availability to mass produce cows and Italy doesn't. Its relatively cheap to raise beef cattle, its not like you need a lot of employees to milk everyday. Also, depending on what kind of meet you are buying, most beef cattle is corn feed which our government subsidizes. Subsidize is to give money to farmers as a means to supplement their income and manage the supply and pricing of certain commodities. Corn is considered a commodity. So when you go to McDonalds and order a meal its practically corn, the cows ate corn which made the beef, the soda is made with high fructose corn syrup, and the fries are fried in corn oil. Junk food is out country's problem.

[Asker]

I'm sure we have factory farms in Italy too.

Well you're the second one to mention the corn thing. But why does the government subsidize corn if it's so bad?

[akadatank44]

Yes I know have farms in Italy but we have more farms here. Travel to the Midwest once and you will see. Its full of farms. The more availability of a product the cheaper the costs because you have a large amount of producers who will have to compete on cost. So whoever can sell the meat they produce at the lowest cost, the supplier ie the store will purchase that one to sell to consumers.
Cows can not digest corn so they have to be injected with a drug in order to digest it that's why its bad for them. That's why the say grass feed beef is better or free range. The government subsidized it during the Great Depression, it was meant as a temporary thing but is still is in use today.

[Tractorbeam]

American farming is heavily subsidised by the government. I'm surprised that the vegetables aren't cheaper, because a lot of that is picked by slave labour, brought in from Mexico.

Beef is cheap in Australia too, but our farmers would get less than 1/2 as much in subsidy from the government. If you've got the land, the cattle almost look after themselves. Some cattle stations here are bigger than European countries.

[bubbletrouble]

Because the government has to make money some how so just produce high quantities of processed foods while the Americans gobble this stuff up.
But Americans don't care I have noticed. I have told a lot of people that fast food has ingredients that aren't even edible but they don't care. I have a co worker that goes to McDonald's everyday for lunch.

[BertMacklinFBI]

its not real good. lol all processed food man. so bad for you but cheap to make in the trillions amounts compared to natural food.

[BertMacklinFBI]

real food*

[Asker]

but why is it cheap? I mean junk food in Italy isn't healthy either but it costs more?

[BertMacklinFBI]

I believe its all regional at that point. and different tax laws and such.

[yaddayaddayadda02]

Very easy. Corn is MASSIVELY subsidized by the taxpayers. This makes the cost to produce corn artificially low. It also creates an incentive to grow it since the farmers are subsidized. It's therefore cheap and easy to create a bunch of processed foods with sugar (corn syrup) in them.

As for the meat, there is an economies of scale at play.

[Asker]

Why corn? Why not I don't know carrots or broccoli?

Animals are different though. There are welfare laws, every animal needs a certain amount of space, care, food. What fixed costs do you have?

[yaddayaddayadda02]

Lobbyists, that's why. Plus we have the dumb idea to use corn for fuel.

Land is relatively cheap in many parts of the US, AS well as feeding equipment, labor, etc.

[Impalitteri]

and foreign countries wonder why americans are obese... we eat what we can afford and usually thats crap.
Personally i think america likes its people unhealthy.. they make money off of sick people. out health care system is nothing like it is in european countries. i know a guys who had heart surgery in Greece. they didn't charge him a dime... here that same procedure costs thousands of dollars

[Asker]

but why are they so cheap?

[Impalitteri]

our animals are pumped full of steroids the way they are raised is not natural.. they dont graze so the meat you get here as opposed to in Europe has a lot higher fat content. animals here are killed in mass for food.

[Impalitteri]

and i think they make junk food cheaper to make americans buy it so we end up with health problem and then pay thousands in medical expenses

[mealsonwheels]

It's because most junk food is made in America so does not need to be exported. Therefore in Europe, it's more expensive because it has been exported.

Meat is cheap too because it's common and locally produced.

[Asker]

I'm pretty sure all those junk food companies make their food all over the world. The ingredients are different by region. So are animal welfare laws and additive regulations

[Octagon]

You do realize that McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and all the other fast food chains in the UK and elsewhere in the World get their produce from locally sourced suppliers? KFC HQ in the UK isn't going to important bread buns from Kansas for its UK based stores.

Also Meat is not cheap and it's getting more and more expensive. This Worldwide culture of cheap food is unsustainable and prices are already rising and will continue to do so, especially as the effects of Global Warming is becoming more and more severe.

[Octagon]

import*

[jswag]

Because of commodity crops being so cheap. I learned this in school.

[nickstaa]

I heard they get a lot of their meat from South America, I know that American Mcdonalds get their beef from there.

[Anonymous]

LOL. I know who you are.

But it's because of tax factors, regulation factors, and true business cost factors such as transportation costs.

[billy420]

Because it's not meat

[Asker]

then what is it?

[billy420]

Ok technically it's meat but it's grade f just about fit for human consumption meat, factory farmed gm mutant animals. And fast food meat is about 20% meat the rest is filler and chemicals