Opportunity Cost/Scarcity and the Food Industry

Since there is a scarcity of everything, consumers choose to buy a certain product over another. Within the food industry there are clearly many different types of products and companies that produce different foods. Since there are many different grocery stores and stores such as Costco and Sam’s, then there’s stores such as Whole Foods and Mariano’s. These stores all sell food but there is a difference in the types of food they sell, whether it be the quality or the price. In this article, the author suggests organic food does have a significantly meaningful difference than non-organic foods, but what matters is what you eat overall. For example, if you’re eating junk food or if you’re eating vegetables and fruits. Another article provides the idea that for those who have a lower or a higher income plays a major factor of what one might buy in the grocery store. This exemplifies the opportunity cost aspect because if one is limited on money, they might choose to buy the cheaper, less healthy option, just based off of income level. To add, many girls growing up and becoming teens can become self-conscious of what they eat, especially with all the effects of media around them. In this article, the author argues how the media puts a certain mentality in the minds of younger girls, this mentality is normally a girl who wants to be as skinny and pretty as the models they see on the covers of magazines. Although, if girls aren’t eating the right foods to stay healthy rather than to stay skinny, the cost of this is the girls could potentially be skinny but skinny doesn’t always mean healthy. Therefore, the author advises the girls and women we see in magazines, movies, TV, etc., those women become an unrealistic goal for younger women. Lastly, with GMO’s, this article proves GMOs do cause health problems and one should be aware of GMO foods. For instance, the author states about 53% of people say they wouldn’t buy produce that has been genetically modified. All in all, with the different types of food, there are many choices but when it comes down to it, it is important to stay healthy and to do this, it’s important to know what’s in your food but also to think about if you’d really rather spend the extra money or organic food or if you’d rather just buy non-organic foods. By choosing organic over non-organic or vice versa, one is creating some scarcity in the food industry by choosing one type of food over another.