Analyzing of a Meal

Many people never think about exactly where the food they are buying came to be at the store or how it was grown. There are few stores that actually list where their products were grown or raised and how they were grown or raised. There are so many products in the store to choose from and each product usually has more than one different brand to choose from. Each of these different brands come from a different place, many would be surprised with the information they found on the background of the products that they buy everyday at the store.

The products that I use for a typical meal have some interesting background facts. The meal that I analyzed was dinner. We had a roast, potatoes, Carrots, Gala apples, rolls, and a bottle of Sam's Choice water. All of my food came from the United States for over different regions. The roast actually came from one of our own cows that we had on the farm. The potatoes came from Idaho, the carrots came from Colorado, and the rolls were made from a local bakery, apples came from Washington, The bottled Sam's Choice water is sourced from St Louis

I do most of my grocery shopping at our local Wal-Mart about 10 miles away from our house. The exception is the beef that we get from our own cows that we take in to have processed from out local meat lockers. The chain for us to get our beef is for us to take the meat to the processor, they process it, they give a call when it's done, and we go get it. And then we fill up our freezers. It's funny because this week I have to go to the butcher and get the meat that we have there. The rolls I get from a local store so I let someone else make them and I just go and pick them up. But first they have to be made and that takes the ingredients such as flour. The flour is made out of wheat that we get from the farmers and it is then processed into the fine power that we use and is packaged for use. As for the potatoes, carrots, and apples they are picked or dug up. The apples are carrots are really washed good and packaged. While the potatoes are clean but they are not always cleaned as good as the carrots. They are all packaged up in bags depending on the size. We have carrots that come in one or two pound bags, the potatoes while some buy them loose, I choose to buy the five to ten pound bags, and the apples come in a five pound bag or sometimes I buy them individually. After all have been packaged up in bags or boxes they are shipped. This could be just to a warehouse where they are then sent out to stores or other fulfillment centers before they go to stores. Once they get to our stores they are then put on the shelves and we pick though to decide what to purchase. The bottled Sam's Choice water is sourced from St Louis, MO where spring water is imported to factories. The spring water is sourced from Wood County, TX. This water is distilled and drinking water source comes from a well supply.

American companies, as well as foreign companies, need to sell to the global market to keep up with competition, create awareness of their innovative products and establish joint ventures and business alliances throughout the world, as selling globally is critical to remaining competitive. History proves that companies involved in exporting are more likely to remain in business ( Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, 2006).

Some of the other benefits the global market brings to the table are that technology, labor and capital can be combined in new and efficient ways that are beneficial to the consumer/end-user. In essence companies can carry out their production processes throughout the entire world, while realizing significant cost savings that they can pass on to the consumer. Furthermore, farmed products that are seasonal, or due to climatic conditions cannot be grown in a geographical area of the world, can be grown and shipped all over the world for consumption ( Wilson center, 2007).

As previously stated the global market has many advantages to both American and foreign companies and supplies a venue for companies to create awareness of their products and technologies. On the negative side, especially to the American workforce, many