Food, Inc. Trailer - sorry, embedding was disabled
Food, Inc. is a documentary from the folks behind Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore's Dilemma. It seeks to expose the "dark secrets" of the American food and agriculture industry, particularly the meat/slaughterhouse and processed food industries. The message of the film is decidedly anti-corporate: that large conglomerates control the vast majority of our food products and are more concerned with profits than your health and nutrition.
From a certain standpoint, this message is sort of obvious. I don't think anyone has looked at a bag of Cheetos, Hungry Man TV dinner, or can of Campbell's soup and thought that this was the ideal thing to give your body. What is interesting is how much effort and refinement has gone into making pre-packaged, processed foods cheaper and more convenient than their natural alternatives.
There are several areas explored during the film, including the pervasive presence of corn in our diet, the current methods of meat production that treat livestock like raw materials, the slipping standards of health inspection and safety within the USDA, and even the influence of St. Louis' own Monsanto on soybean farmers and genetically modified organism (GMO) seed legislation.
The documentary is extremely well-made, and makes some fairly persuasive arguments. It certainly makes me think twice about shoveling down that Big Mac or Whopper. There are a few segments that are obviously slanted in their presentation, and additional research might clarify the situation a bit. Overall, though, anyone interested in investigating organic foods, local agriculture, or healthier eating would do well to spend 90-minutes watching Food, Inc for a little extra motivation. If nothing else, it's certainly made us more satisfied with our decision to get involved with Fairshares this past year.
Oh, and the farmer in the trailer at the 1:55 mark? Someone needs to give him money and put him in charge of stuff. That's a smart man.
Note: Food, Inc. is also available for free streaming from Netflix Watch Instantly.
Posted by
Jason
2 comments:
Thanks for the note on the Netflix streaming option. I saw the trailer on HDNET once and thought it looked interesting. I'll have to give it a look.
I'm such a denialist...I will never watch this because I think it would put me off food forever. I'd rather enjoy my QP w/ Cheese than feel guilty about it. If I had to work in a stockyard where they processed animals, I would probably go insane in a day.
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