“Would you eat recycled landfill meat?
”
Reflection Paper
“Would you eat recycled landfill meat?” of in Pilipino term “Pagpag” a Food from the Garbage
After watching this chosen video, we were able to understand how real the hardships of life are.
Poverty will really cause man to exert every effort that he has in order to feed his family and stuff his
stomach with food brought by a few pesos that he has earned. Destitute Filipino families will walk in
the streets of commercialized Manila begging for waste food from restaurant chains like McDonalds
and Jollibee, Chowking, etc. They term the food that they get from these restaurants as Pagpag.
They will segregate the mixed food that they get and sanitizes eatable parts by washing it three
times with hot water. They will would make them in to three famous Filipino delicacies: fried Pagpag
and adobong Pagpag and sometimes Caldereta. After cooking it they will sell it in their community,
the two dishes cost 10 pesos, 15 pesos and 25 pesos. Because of its low price, a lot of families are
attracted in buying the cooked Pagpag just to calm their grumbling stomachs. They become
unmindful of whatever bacteria causing disease may be the inhabitants of the food that they feast in.
Since Pagpag is a collection of garbage and leftover food, it can be home of bacteria causing
diseases. Relating this to health care, reality tells us that it is nothing to be disgusted to because
these families do not have any other option to obtain food. Looking at their environment, they really
have no choice but to adjust to what they are capable of and what is available for them. To meet
their basic needs, they search the garbage for their everyday food. And since Pagpag costs
reasonable enough for them to buy, it became a staple part of their everyday meal dependent on the
few pesos that they earn every single day. As for these poor families, their perception influences
their health behavior. They believe that pagpag is safe to eat since it is sanitized. What they actually
don’t know is that it could bring bacteria that cooking cannot kill such as Salmonella. What happens
here is what we called cross contamination. The food from garbage contains Salmonella, which is
brought by the saliva of the first person eating it. Unknowingly, these bacteria are transmitted to the
next person. In relation to Smiths model of health, it is true that these people living in slums didn’t fail
to adapt to their needs. Some of them are immune to the bacteria and diseases because their
immune system got used to it. This is the reason why they feel healthy and strong but the truth is,
bacteria can be found hiding in their intestines and stomach. Today, people especially those who are
living in the provincial areas want to improve their lives, so they work hard. They even migrate in
Manila because they believe that there is a better opportunity for them to find jobs, earn money and
buy things they need and desire. Manila is now overpopulated for the reason that they thought they’ll
have a better living and now squatters are dispersing because they just migrated without thinking
carefully. They don’t have places to stay; they don’t even know who will they approach to help them.
Consequently, they now go to places like Smokey Mountain or “Payatas”. Though they work hard,
they end up as garbage collectors; they become beggars, because their educational attainments are
not enough to find decent jobs. And at the same time, they reproduce and reproduce, which makes it
harder for them because they’re going to feed more children than before. This video also shows that,
the parents cannot afford to give their children the proper food and nutrition that is why they opted to
try “pagpag” until it became their staple food for every day. I believe Philippines, although we are
abundant in natural resources, lacks in many aspects. Health and sanitation problems aren’t handled
very well resulting to this kind of situation. Pagpag is getting popular today to those people living in
slums. It even became their form of living to make money. This kind of situation should be focused
by the health organizations here in the Philippines. If this will not be treated immediately, then many
people will suffer from garbage food and put their health at risk. This video made us realized how
lucky we are to be an individual who does not currently work for our own living. Just as shown in the
video, even as young as 7 year old kids endure the pain of disguised child abuse just to fill their
stomachs with food from restaurants that they term as Pagpag. Mixed fish, beef, pork, and meat of
other sort are washed with water and cooked together. This video also makes us realize how lucky
we are since we are feed 3 times a day with our parents with a clean and delicious foods, this video
should be a source of ideas to everyone that we shouldn’t waste food and eat only the food you can
able to finish to prevent throwing foods since there are lot of people who re suffering from hunger
everyday . Disgust should not have any slot in our minds as their fellow Filipinos. And the most
important is the true understanding and support for the majority who suffers a lot just to survive the
harsh realities and obstacles of life. This is recommended to everyone especially to Filipinos who
aren’t aware to the situations of poor families. This could be a way to open them to the harsh
realities. And maybe they could think of any way to help our fellow Filipinos in their own simple ways.
