With Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner aims to educate Americans about the realities of the food industry (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
A new film documentary that’s hitting theaters now looks at the underbelly of the food industry. We’ve all heard about food recalls because of E.coli bacteria contamination. There was peanut butter, hamburger, spinach – and the list goes on. Lester Graham reports the documentary, Food Inc., looks at why food gets contaminated and reveals a lot more about our industrial approach to producing food:
Transcript
A new film documentary that’s hitting theaters now looks at the underbelly of the food industry. We’ve all heard about food recalls because of E.coli bacteria contamination. There was peanut butter, hamburger, spinach – and the list goes on. Lester Graham reports the documentary, Food Inc., looks at why food gets contaminated and reveals a lot more about our industrial approach to producing food:
This documentary is disturbing. It shows some of the things that happen to our food behind the scenes.
“There is this deliberate veil, this curtain, that’s dropped between us and where are food is coming from. The industry doesn’t want you to know the truth about what you’re eating, because if you knew, you might not want to eat it.”
The film, Food Inc., looks at how raising animals and growing crops have been industrialized from the farm to the grocery store.
Food processors have relied more and more on technological and chemical fixes to food contamination problems and storage issues instead of questioning whether the assembly line factory, mass production approach is the best way of handling food.
It looks at how companies such as Monsanto are treating farmers who want to save their seeds to replant next year – hint — involves lawyers and lawsuits.
It looks at how companies fight against labeling that would give consumers more information on packages. They say more information might unnecessarily scare their customers.
And it uses video from hidden cameras to show how animals are treated at big factory slaughterhouses.
Robert Kenner is the film’s producer/director. He thinks most people won’t like what they see.
But, he also says things can change. If people think about it, they actually vote with their forks three times a day.
“On some level, I think it’s going to be lead by moms who don’t want their children to be eating this food that’s making them sick.”
Kenner says these massive food recalls we’ve seen over the last several years are bad enough, but there’s a greater threat to our health.
“Obviously E.coli and things like that are very frightening, but ultimately it’s the everyday stuff that we don’t see – such as the sugar, salt and fat – that are making us fat. And that’s what I think needs to be changed most. That we get food that’s healthy and that we don’t subsidize food that’s making us sick.”
Food Inc. interviews farmers and food processors and some food industry critics, including author Michael Pollan.
He says those foods subsidized by the government are the kinds of ingredients that are causing some of the leading health problems, such as early onset of diabetes and heart disease.
“All those snackfood calories are the ones that come from the commodity crops – from the wheat, from the corn, and from the soybeans. By making those calories really cheap, that’s one of the reasons the biggest predictor of obesity is income level.”
Pollan says it’s wrong when it’s cheaper to buy a cheeseburger than it is to buy broccoli.
The director and producer of Food Inc., Robert Kenner says he knows the film spends a lot of time looking at the dark side.
But he also gives some of the progressive food processors and even Wal Mart credit. He says they’re doing something about meeting the consumer demand for better, safer and more healthy foods.
“There are lots of great options out there and they are growing options.”
Such as farmers markets, grocery stores letting you know if food is grown locally, and a growing selection of organic foods.
Kenner says he hopes his film, Food Inc., not only outlines the problems with how our food is handled, but gets people to start asking questions about the choices they make when it’s time to eat.
For The Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.