I chose to watch Food Inc. by Robert Kenner. I had seen this documentary before and it drastically changed the way I looked at food and what I was consuming. Before making the documentary, Robert Kenner had no previous history with food and nutrition. When asked about his previous interest in food and nutrition, Kenner responded, “I’m a filmmaker, and I only wanted to make an entertaining film, so this is not my background (PBS).”

Food Inc. is a powerful documentary that highlights the corruption and dangers associated with the industrial food and agriculture industry. The film highlights several points of discussion that are necessary to understand how the agriculture industry has changed over the course of the century. At the beginning of the century, food was locally farmed and produced. As population began to grow, local farmers began to be phased out by the implementation of the super market. To keep up with the growing population, much more food needed to be produced. This need for increased food production gave rise to the new industrial agriculture industry.

With populations increasing, the agriculture industry has made many questionable changes. The industry has switched from grass-fed livestock to corn-fed livestock. Corn fattens livestock much more quickly than grass, so livestock is raised more quickly for slaughter. The increased need for corn for human and livestock consumption is now having devastating impacts on the environment. The increased demand for meat production also creating questionable ethical procedures for raising livestock (Kenner).

The practices involved in raising livestock in today’s agricultural industry waver around unethical and unsafe. Throughout the last few decades, the meat market has been riddled with potentially deathly viruses and bacteria. Food poisoning has been on an upward trend. Not only is livestock potentially dangerous for human consumption, the practices involved in raising the livestock are unsustainable, unethical, and harmful to the environment. Methane gas emissions from raising mass amounts of livestock is the largest contributor of greenhouse gases in the United States (Kenner).

The ethics involved in raising livestock not only affect the animals being raised, but also many farmers being contracted to raise the livestock. Many small farmers invest their life savings into expensive equipment that larger corporations demand before allowing contractors to raise their livestock. When the livestock is not bought back by the contractors, small farmers typically lose their farms, homes, and assets. Livestock raised in larger, commercial farms are subject to terrible treatment and unethical living conditions, with some animals being raised in pens for years, never seeing the light of day. Some animals are forced to live among thousands of others, among dead animals and excrement. Thus, contributing to the spread of disease in these animals, making them less safe for human consumption and prone to inhumane living conditions. Factory farming also encourages the use of unnatural diets of corn and steroids for these animals, causing them to grow larger faster. Companies also pump their livestock full of potentially harmful chemicals to grow livestock faster and preserve their meats for longer. Many of these companies use false advertising strategies to sway buyers into purchasing chemically induced foods without consumer knowledge. Food Inc. exposes the corporate greed of the factory farm industry and the dangers that it poses to the animals being raised and the consumers who are tricked into buying the products (Kenner).

            Food Inc. premiered on April 21, 2010. The themes and ideas present in this documentary are still issues that are being battled today. Americans have completely lost touch with where their food is coming from and how it is produced. Our book focuses on a few main themes present in the documentary, such as the role of sustainable agriculture and biotechnology in respect to worldwide food availability. This topic is covered in chapter fifteen, section four. Our text explains that factory farming has increased food production and availability around the world, but has also created several negative impacts, including loss of topsoil, contamination of groundwater, decline of family farms, neglect of living and working conditions for farm laborers, increasing costs of production, and the lack of integration of economic and social conditions in rural conditions (Wardlaw). These themes are also present in the documentary, though the documentary also offers a strong focus on the unethical treatment of animals and the safety of consuming factory farm raised animals.

            In chapter 16, our textbook focuses on the safety of our food supply. Our textbook focuses mainly on safe handling procedures of food after production. Though this is an important step in maintaining the safety and edibility of food, it neglects any in depth information on the safety of how our food is raised and produced. Food Inc. gives detailed descriptions of how factory farms are raising livestock. Most livestock are being fed an unnatural diet of corn and steroids for rapid growth. The faster livestock grows, the sooner it is available for slaughter and sale. Our textbook fails to inform the reader about the negative impacts of steroid use and unnatural diets for the meat humans are consuming.

            Chapter 16 does go into detail about possible harmful chemicals used on produce grown in industrial farms. A small section of chapter 16 sheds light on the overall impact of sustainable farming. It alludes that sustainable farming will eventually satisfy human food needs, enhance environmental quality, efficiently use nonrenewable resources, sustain the economic viability of farm operations, and enhance the quality of life for farmers (Wardlaw).

            This assignment taught me to be especially skeptical of the food industry. The film enlightened me that food is often mislabeled to advertise to consumers. The terms “all-natural” or “free-range” are not necessarily what the consumer might think. Food Inc. elaborates on how this type of wording on packages is used to falsely advertise to consumers. This assignment has encouraged me to buy more food locally, rather than from supermarkets in an effort to support more sustainable farming.

 

 

 

 

References

Food Inc. Dir. Robert Kenner. 2008. Film.

PBS. PBS. 21 April 2010. 17 April 2017.

Wardlaw, Smith, and Collene. Contemporary Nutrition: A Functional Approach. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2013.