I finally watched the movie Food, Inc. tonight. Wow, what a great film.
From the Food, Inc. site:
“In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield’s Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms’ Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.”
Mr. Radical has extreme food allergies. Thankfully we’re able to maintain his health through diet. We eat about 90% organic. It’s not cheap or easy but his weird health problems have gone away. Because of his allergy I’ve gotten quite the education on where food comes from. I knew a lot of the information in the film but there were parts that completely shocked me. Here’s some highlights:
A chicken farmer named Carole Morison was interviewed for the film. She shares that she is allergic to antibiotics and can’t take them because they are fed to her chickens through their feed. The antibiotics in the feed passes to the chickens which then pass on to humans.
Barbara Kowalcyk’s two year old son died from eating a hamburger infected with E-coli. After his death she became a food safety advocate. She’s working to get a law passed named after her son. Kevin’s Law basically gives the USDA the power to shut down factories that have repeat offenses. They currently can’t do that?! Later in the film she’s asked what kind of diet her family eats now. She declined to answer the question because of so called veggie libel laws.
Now I know Monsanto is one of the really evil corporations. But there’s a scene in the movie where a farmer discovers he’s on a Monsanto “black list”. These are farmers who don’t “cooperate” with Monsanto and are seen as “problem farmers”. It was like something out of a Mafia movie.
It’s not cheap or easy to eat an organic diet. You’ll have a large grocery bill and make a lot of your food from scratch. Honestly, it’s often a pain in the ass. Sometimes I just want to go out and have a burger and fries and not have to think about it. But eating organic does feel much healthier.
One of my heroes Julia Butterfly Hill said, “The most revolutionary thing you can do is decide what to put at the end of your fork.” Her point basically sums up this entire film.
Eric Schlosser co-produced the film and is featured throughout. His book Fast Food Nation is a must read.
In a nutshell: Watch this film.
Posted by Vixen as Reviews at 11:35 PM CST