Milk the ‘Modern Food’

Milk has become a 'modern food,' because of the technological transformations that occur when it is processed and refit to our social and health needs. For example, the industrialized process that adds and subtracts the ingredients in milk to fit the health demands of the society tends to be synonymous with child growth and well being in the United States, but also in China as well. In the mid-nineteenth century urbanization created a demand for milk to bring the United States out of malnutrition by developing the USDA’s dual mandate to increase the consumption and production of milk throughout the country, but now there is an over abundance of high caloric foods. On the other hand, the USDA overlooked the biological factors of milk in the genetically lactose intolerant minorities by assuming that everyone can digest it. Nevertheless, milk has become a global trend, which influences the people of the United States and China alike with its milk mustache advertisements advocating its healthiness and influence on strong bones for growth. In this essay, I will contrast and compare the consumption of milk in America and China to understand why milk is seen as a solution for growth and weight loss.