Food, Inc. ___ the movie

We rented this DVD from Netflix and it was an eye-popper. Engineering crops and animals which are processed in food "factories" according to the multi-national companies who control the market, feeds the world. "I've yet to hear why it's bad that we can raise more (chickens, beef, corn, etc.) faster, using less land, and do it cheaper" one spokesman said. As one farmer observed "If I can sell a hen in 47 days instead of 3 months it's more money in my pocket. That's a no-brainer."

Sounds really teriffic, like science has solved global population pressures on our food supply.

To accomplish this massive assembly line production however, requires centralized planning and control. Heavy and pervasive control. Cargill and a half dozen multi-nats own or control 80% of our farmland and the huge fast food chains are their biggest customer by a long stretch. Which is why we grow so much corn. The list of foods that contain corn or fructose is virtually the entire menu for all burger joints.

The fed has subsidized commodity crops (those that can be stored like corn & wheat) since the Depression, a fact that almost invented fast food. When you can buy a cheeseburger for less than a head of broccoli what does a budget dictate? The current epidemic of diabetes and overweight people in this country is directly related to the fact that food high in calories, salt, and fat is cheaper to buy and faster to get than fresh foods that cost more and take precious time to prepare but are better for your health.

The family farm has been on the skids for decades while this centralization was realizing its potential. Despite the recent interest in organic veggies, free-range chicken, and grass-fed beef, most Americans (and the entire world's poor) cannot afford this kind of healthy food and are forced to consume the unhealthy stuff churned out by these mega-farms.

It can get very unhealthy, too. There have been several e-coli outbreaks which have caused widespread hospitalizations and even deaths. So strong is the meat industry's grip on the federal regulators however that the FDA was stopped in court __ that's right, they were sued __ from shutting down meat plants with records of repeated contamination problems. One victim's family campaigned to overthrow this ruling with a law (Kevin's Law, after her dead six year old) which has been stalled by the meat industry lobby for almost a decade after the child's death from e-coli poisoning.

Tyson is one of the big four meat giants and they control poultry farmers with contracts that dictate how the hens are raised (huge sheds with no light which makes them more docile). If a farmer tries to open the sheds to the sunlight his contract is cancelled. Tyson threatened all the farmers visited by the film crew with this consequence if they allowed the cameramen inside the sheds.

The FDA is charged with regulating our food supply for our public health but many of its leaders come from the industries it is supposed to govern. The classic fox guarding the hen house story. And so strong is the agricultural lobby there is little hope this will change.

Instead the producers suggest, it can change from the bottom up, pointing to what happened to the tobacco giants who wielded the same power. Enough doctors and public health advocates pestered Congress long enough to effect change. So in this instance the producers hope that the general public will get educated about what damage the factory foods are doing to our health and start buying the grass-fed, free-range, and organic alternates. If enough of us do this over time while also avoiding fast food, WE become the major consumers, not the golden arches.

This means reading labels, using farmers markets, buying meat and veggies that are grown locally not shipped in from Iowa. Pay a little more for fresh and grass-fed meats (corn-fed beef was hundreds of times more likely to contain e-coli) and protect your family's health.

Note; I should have taken notes but the story was too good to pause. There is much more to learn from it and it connects very well with Michael Pollan's (very short) paperback, Food Rules. And by the way we are not vegan or food purists in any way. Although we have a big garden and bought a (open range) beef half we still buy and eat pizza, chicken pot pie, and sometimes even visit the local Burger King.