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Annemarie Farina
Professor Elizabeth Caruso
University Writing 1103-021
7 April 2015
Killer fish?
Do you know where your food comes from? Most people will answer, no to
this question, or state that their food has been purchased from a trustworthy grocery store. To
the consumer, these farms appear to be happy/joyful, and they think that the consumption of this
type of food is healthy and safe. In actuality, most of our food comes from factory farms or fish
farms. I wanted to create an object to inform the average Joe American, a person who does not
exactly know where their food comes from, and what actually goes into its production. Even
though this topic is gruesome, people need to know what the government is hiding from the
public within the food system. I feel it is important that everyone knows where their food has
been produced and the methods that the companies use to profit, as well as the end result of
consumption. This will enable all consumers to have a choice of deciding if they want to eat
foods that they are not aware of the process that the food goes through. Hopefully, they will
realize that the government is hiding critical information from United States citizens in this so
called free country.
The menu allows me to express my thoughts towards the government and companies,
such as Monsanto. Aquaculture refers to the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of animals and
plants in all types of water environments (Basic Questions par. 1). The NOAA (National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) makes aquaculture sound so light, healthy and easy
enforcing this definition. In actuality, fish and workers are treated like the bottom of the food

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chain. The fish are not fed their natural diet, but replaced by fish oil and fish meal to fish that
naturally eat only plants in an effort to make them grow faster (Aquafarming par. 9). This
nourishment causes the levels of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) to be seven times higher than
wild caught fish (Aquafarming par. 10). PCBs are illegal pesticides that are known for
causing cancers in humans. Traces of this pesticide are found in farm-raised salmon at a level
sixteen times higher than the wild caught salmon (Axe par. 5). Dibutyltin, a chemical found in
PVC piping used in aquaculture, causes significant harms to the body such as: allergies, asthma,
obesity and other metabolic and immune disorders in humans (Axe par. 6). To see these
symptoms a person needs to consume a significant amount of farm-raised fish (Axe par. 6).
Unfortunately, these are only a fraction of the chemicals used in the aquaculture system. For the
companies to keep their expenditures low, they hire illegal immigrants so they can pay them
lower wages compared to the other United Stated citizens that are employed within the company.
Sadly, injuries to these immigrant workers include chemical burns, carpal tunnel syndrome, fish
bites, and in some cases birth defects to their unborn children (Durborow and Myers 4).
When I was in high school, I was curious about how many people actually knew about
where their food came from, due to my AP environmental science and marine ecology class. I
directly asked my peers in classes in, addition to my family, to see what their background
knowledge was concerning our food systems. More than half of the people I asked did not know
where their food came from or how the animals are handled in captivity. Nor did my peers or
family know the amount chemicals these animals are administered in order to create the beef,
pork, fish, and poultry that they consume. It shocked me to find out a significant amount of my
fellow classmates and family members did not have any prior knowledge about the dangers of
the foods that they consume daily. Not only did they not know the chemicals that are present in

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their foods, but most of them would prefer to live in a blissful state of not knowing what they are
ingesting on a daily basis. Yet, down the road will this still be the case? To my fellow
companions, I say this must come to an end. It is time to discover the ugly truth about what is
really going into our food.
I want to convince the audience, being nave common folk that they are, aquaculture is
a negative industry. I thought about doing a scientific article, but I would have to pose both
aspects of the positives and negatives of aquaculture. Subsequently, I feel that the negative
greatly outweigh the positive aspects, though it is best to express the way I feel in a manner that
is suited for the menu. In addition, I wanted to do something more than an alphabetic text to
make my point-of-view stand out. These factors led me to decide upon making a menu that
would demonstrate creativity as well as to the dark side of this industry. Specifically to
demonstrate how the aquaculture industry does not take care of the fish or its workers. This
menu would be used in a major city restaurant because a majority of the inner city restaurants
use farm-raised fish compared to wild caught on their menu. The only down side of the menu is
that it did not provide the opportunity for me to present the very small positive side of
genetically modified fish. The concept of genetically growing fish does helps with supply and
demand to keep up with the increasing population rate of the United States. Furthermore, this
menu did not let me display more factual information compared to a scientific article or a
scientific blog. The only thing that I could have done differently is add more information about
aquaculture and the few positive aspects, such as greater production of fish, increasing jobs, and
increase of scientific knowledge and technology worldwide (Aquaculture: Pros and Cons).
I chose the components within my menu, such as the pictures of the fish, the ridiculous
prices on the menu, and outrageous descriptions of the genetically modified fish because I

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wanted to sarcastically display the aquaculture environment along with its unhealthy aspects to
workers along with consumers. This creation is a way for me to make it a somewhat comedic
and dark way to display what the government is hiding from consumers, and what the food and
drug administration (FDA) gives a blind eye to.
The menu was the choice to display the research I did to inform people, who did not have
the education that I had, of the horrors that are hiding within our food system. It is important
that we know what we are consuming. We, as citizens of a free country, all need to rise up and
understand exactly what is going into our bodies. Regrettably, the increase of cancers along with
other diseases has increase dramatically and this is one of the main causes. Do you want to be in
control of what you eat or do you want the government to continue to sneak chemicals into fish
that could potentially harm or kill you?

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Works Cited
"Aquaculture: Pros and Cons." PBS.org. Web. 25 Mar. 2015. <http://wwwtc.pbs.org/emptyoceans/educators/activities/docs/Aquaculture-Pros-and-Cons.pdf>.
"Aquafarming." PETA. Web. 3 Apr. 2015.
Axe, Josh. "The Dangers of Farmed Fish - DrAxe.com." DrAxecom. 3 Mar. 2010. Web. 5 Apr.
2015.
"Basic Questions about Aquaculture." NOAA Fisheries. Web. 2 Apr. 2015.
Canole, Drew. "GMO Salmon Should You Be Scared." Fitlifetv. 19 Apr. 2013
Web. 24 Mar. 2015.
Durborow, Robert. "KSU Fish Diseases Course." KSU Aquaculture. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
Durborow, Robert, and Melvin Myers. "Aquacultural Safety and Health." 9 July 2011. Web. 2
Apr. 2015.
Feijo, Carmen, Paola Navarrete, and Jaime Romero. "Antibiotics in Aquaculture Use, Abuse
and Alternatives." CDN. 10 July 2011. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.
"Food from the Sea: Can Biotech Help Feed the World?" Food from the Sea: Can Biotech Help
Feed the World? 1 July 2009. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
"Horror after 'tongue-eating Parasite Found in Tesco Fish' - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk."
BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. 16 Apr. 2013. Web. 2 Apr. 2015.
Woolsey, GL. "GMO Timeline: A History of Genetically Modified Foods - GMO Inside." GMO
Inside. Rosebud, 13 Sept. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.