UnderwoodFoodInc

Food, Inc.

Food, Inc. is a really powerful documentary. It was directed by Robert Kenner, and released in 2008, and reminds me fully of my initial disgust and horror at the food industry when I read __Fast Food Nation__ nearly five years ago. Both have made me very glad that I’m already a vegetarian, and have a father who frequents local farm stands.

The film draws out a whole list of problems that exist in our food industry today. You see, our food industry has changed drastically over the past 50 years, more than it has at any other time in the history of civilization. Our food used to come from small farms, supplying food for a small regional area. But now we have things like consolidation of farms and processing plants, so that one farm or processor can supply people all over the world. This all started with things like fast food. When restaurants started running their kitchens like factories, and started having chains that stretched across the nation, this led to a demand for food that is uniform to supply all the restaurants in these chains, which led to a conforming of the food supply system. Now, only 3 or 4 companies control almost all of the meat in the U.S. And with this shift in control has come a shift in the way food is produced. For example, chickens today are raised in half the time they used to be, but are twice as big. This leads to health issues with the chickens, because they are growing so fast that their bones and organs can’t keep up. It also leads to health problems with the humans eating the chickens, because for the chickens to be raised this way, they are pumped full of growth hormones and antibiotics, which get into the people that eat these chickens. This is not good, because we don’t really fully understand the effects that this has on humans. We do know though, that the more antibiotics that get into our systems, the more likely bacteria is to develop a resistance to the antibiotics, which makes them less effective when we need them. This type of farming has also lead to the mutation of harmless strains of E. coli to E. coli 0157 H7, which is deadly. Why does this happen? Well, in the feedlots that most of our beef cows are raised in, the animals are packed into tiny fenced areas, where they don’t have a lot of room to move and are fed corn. Cows aren’t supposed to eat corn, they’re supposed to eat grass. But in order to mass produce cows, it’s easier to feed them corn. In this tiny fenced area, the cows poop, but the pens aren’t really cleaned up, so the poop just stays there, and builds up. If a cow has E. coli, it comes out in it’s poop. This means that if just one cow gets E. coli in a feed lot, all the other cows will too, since they’re in such close contact with each other’s poop. The cows then get brought to processing plants, where thousands of other cows are brought to be processed. These infected cows get mixed in with all the other cows, which might not be infected. They then get ground up, and processed with ammonia to kill bacteria. This is all pretty disgusting.

Another problem with our food system is the legislation effecting it. In the U.S., we subsidize a few certain crops, like corn and wheat. These subsidies encourage farmers to grow monocultures, and to get big or consolidate. These foods then take over our food system. For example, there is corn in almost everything, including soda, batteries, charcoal, and pizza. These really aren’t the types of things that corn is supposed to be in, but corn is cheap, so it’s used for everything (including cow feed). Because of these subsidies, food prices don’t reflect the real costs of food. Fast food and junk food are cheaper to buy than fruits and vegetables, when really the amount of energy and resources put into fast food is usually much greater. Why is this?

The big food companies have too much power. This comes mostly from all of their money. They’ve arranged their production to be super efficient, which leads to the lowest costs possible. How do they do this? Well, one way is not caring about the health of their animals, as discussed above. Another way is by not caring about their workers. The farmers that work for these big food companies are kept in check by keeping them in constant debt. The food companies set up a contract to buy from the farmers, but only under certain conditions. The farmers often have to invest money in some new buildings or equipment initially, which is the start of their debt. Then, to keep them in debt, the food companies keep requiring different upgrades or changes that the farmers have to put money into. In this way, the farmers are dependent on the food companies’ contracts so that they can pay back their debt. Food companies also hire many illegal immigrants to work in their factories. Illegal immigrants don’t really have many legal rights, so the food companies can treat them however they want.

Because they have all this money, food companies have an immense amount of power. They sue many people. One example of this is Monsanto, who sues any farmer that saves their seeds, even though farmers have always saved their seeds. They do this in order to make farmers dependent on them for seeds to grow their crops every year. How can they do this? They patented the genes in their soybean seeds, which contaminate even fields of non-Monsanto soybeans by cross-pollination, which the farmers can’t control. How do they win these cases? Really good lawyers and a lot of money.

In fact, the food companies use these really good lawyers and tons of money to get a lot of things through our legal systems. A lot of laws have been passed protecting these giant food companies, because they have lots of friends in government. In fact, many of the organizations in our government are led by people who are working for the companies that they are supposed to be regulating. Now how does that make sense?

Now the good news is that we (the average American) actually have a lot of power to change this. We’re the ones buying the food, so if we are simply more aware of what we’re buying, we can make a big difference. Examples of things to look for are: where did this food come from ([])? Where chemicals/hormones used in making it ([])? Is it in season?? Just by asking these questions, we can make a real difference in our diets and personal health, as well as supporting farmers who are trying to farm in this manner. You can also do things like petition for healthy school lunches ([]), contact your local governor about food bills, or even just talk to people about where their food comes from. You can also check out advocacy groups, like [], [], [], [], and [].