Eat a meal before watching Food, Inc., as you won’t be eating for several days afterwards. It is a sad truth that much of the North American food system is unappetizing and, frankly, more than a little grotesque. Food, Inc., directed by Robert Kenner and co-produced by Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser, is the latest food expose to hit the mass market.
The 93-minute documentary is part Our Daily Bread, with a dash of The World According to Monsanto and a liberal mixing of Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.
The result is a haunting documentary look into the North American food system - one of the most corporate controlled, unhealthiest, cruellest food systems on the planet.
“The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than it has in the last 10,000,” explains the opening narration of Food, Inc. “But the imagery used to sell food is still of agrarian America, the spinning of a pastoral fantasy.”
These images of smiling farmers, fields of wheat, hens and their chicks, with cows peacefully grazing in fields actually hides the reality of how a handful of multi-national corporations now control the majority of North American food production.
Director Robert Kenner exposes the highly mechanized underbelly that is largely hidden from the American consumer with the consent of the American government’s regulatory agencies, the USDA and FDA.
“The industry doesn’t want you to know the truth about your food or you might not eat it,” explains Kenner.
“This is not just about what we are eating, this is also about what we are allowed to say and what we are allowed to know,” explains Eric Schlosser.
Food, Inc. was not an easy film to make as the filmmakers were denied access to numerous American industrialized factories and farms.
“It was nearly impossible to gain access to industrial farms and into large food corporations. They just would not let us in. It felt like it would have been easier to penetrate the Pentagon than to get into a company that makes breakfast cereal,” explains Food, Inc. producer Elise Pearlstein. “The legal challenges on this film were also unique. We found it necessary to consult with a first amendment lawyer throughout the entire filming process.”
The corporate food industry has a lot to hide.
Today, there are chickens fed antibiotics and raised in the dark, grown from egg to boneless meat in the supermarket in 48 days. This is twice as fast as 50 years ago and the chickens are now twice as big, with a growth rate four times as fast.
There are no no seasons in the supermarket anymore, and no bones in the meat department,. Hamburgers have E. coli. Soy and corn are patented and owned by the world’s largest genetically modified organism company in the world– Monsanto. Farmers are persecuted and sued for accidentally infringing on Monsanto’s seed “rights”. More than 70% of processed foods on American shelves contain genetically modified ingredients. Meat and milk from cloned animals will soon be on American food shelves. Cheap subsidized genetically modified corn is fed to cows, chickens and even farmed salmon. More than 30% of America’s land base is planted with corn.
Food Inc. chronicles example after example of a severely damaged, broken food system.
The industrialized food system is always looking for ways to increase efficiency which leads to higher profits, but each increase in efficiency has consequences –chickens that can no longer walk, beef with E. coli, hamburger filler washed in ammonia, irradiated lettuce, tasteless vegetables grown with heavy applications of pesticide and fertilizers so they can be made available year round.
These grim facts are only one part of the modern day American food story. Health related effects of the industrialized American diet are becoming increasingly serious. The biggest indicator of obesity in the United States is poverty and fully 1/3 of Americans born after 2000 will have early onset diabetes. One half of minorities will contract diabetes.
Food, Inc.’s hard hitting expose of America’s food system is peppered with interviews with some of the leading food experts in the world including Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, along with Stonyfield Farms' Gary Hirschberg and Polyface Farms' Joe Salatin. Interviews with other people affected by the industrialized food system include chicken farmer Carole Morison, who lost her contract to produce chickens because she refused to switch to the windowless, dark barns where the majority of industrialized meat chickens are raised, seed cleaner Moe Parr who was forced to settle with Monsanto rather than face bankruptcy and food safety advocate Barbara Kowalcyk whose 2 1/2 year old child Kevin died from E. coli.
After watching Food, Inc. you’ll lose your appetite but gain valuable insight into North American food production.
“One of the most important battles for the consumer to fight is the right to know what’s in your food,” explains Pollan.
“Maybe it’s just “voting with their forks” – eating less meat, buying different food, buying from companies they feel good about, going to farmers markets,” explains Pearlstein.
Food, Inc. is one of the most important food films ever made. If you live in North America or eat any of their food products – you must see this film.
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Visit: http://www.foodincmovie.com/
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ps being a vegetarian doesn't solve the problem although the movie didn't touch on it much many vegetables are genetically modified and twisted as well.
written by Griz , January 30, 2011