Food Inc. - Where does your food come?

This has to be, by far, the best and the worst movie I have ever watched. I have watched it twice, and will watch again. It made me angry, and sad. More angry than sad.

It starts with a simple question. Do you know where your food is coming from? Enough to make you stop and think.

I grew up in a small town in India. In a valley, underneath the mountains, beside a river. If my plate had the major food groups on it, I knew I was eating healthy. I still follow the same principle. Carbs, proteins, vitamins. Apparently, if I was in living in America and ate the same things, I might still not necessarily be eating healthy.

Food inc, as a brilliant piece of investigative journalism, raises the veil behind food in America (and technologically advanced countries?) What you see, is not what you get, is it’s gist. It effectively brings out the monopoly of the mega giants in the food industry. As fast food becomes the new religion, and Mc Donalds and KFCs the new Mecca, they don’t just control what they feed you, but also how all of that food is produced. In America, MD is the largest purchaser of ground beef, potatoes, tomatoes, and even apples. For instance, 4 beef packers control more than 80% of the meat packing industry in America. Who do you they owe their allegiance to?

We like our chicken breasts. So what does Tyson do? It raises chickens to double their sizes, in half the time. What does it mean for the chickens though? They are so heavy that they can barely walk. Some die of internal complications. Doesn’t help that these chicken farms factories dark tunnel ventilated houses. There is no natural light or air. Farmers have no autonomy and are often controlled by these corporates.

Forget the chicken, the story is the same for beef and pork. Bred and killed in their own manure. And we wonder why the E Coli breakout occurred? The largest slaughterhouse in America, and the world, is in N. Carolina. It slaughters 2000 hogs an hour. That’s 34 a minute…. Let that sink in. 34 hogs slaughtered every 60 seconds. Do you want me to guess what that means in terms of animal cruelty. (I should probably mention at this point, there are parts of the movie that is not for the animal lovers. I couldn’t close my eyes, but my jaws dropped and I wished I could. Enough evidence to set any animal rights organization into furore. Surprisingly, that hasn’t happened yet.... Can only guess why.)

And it just isn’t the animals who are exploited and abused. Think of the workers in these industries. The assembly line mentality was first introduced by Mc Donalds to reduce costs. Treat humans like machines. Teach them to do one task, and one task alone to obtain maximum efficiency. Of course, it then doesn’t qualify as ‘skilled labour’ and you can get away with low wages. Do not forget it was Mc Donalds again, in the States that argued in the Congress to allow the use of 16-17 year olds in their restaurants at a cheaper wage. Pay them a $1.28/hour instead of the generous $1.60. (And if you haven’t read it yet, highly recommend ‘Fast Food Nation’ by Eric Schosser. Wait, make that *highly* recommend. )

And then there is corn. Genetically modified corn is the base for over 90% of the products in the super markets. You will find high fructose corn syrup in everything from ketchup to peanut butter. Salad dressing to diapers. And batteries too. It’s a cheap crop and the ‘waste’ can be fed to cattle. More corn in our bodies.

The problem is multi layered. It just isn’t that fast food companies are lowering prices to feed the consumers bad calories. Not just that chips are subsidized, but not carrots. It isn’t just that the food regulatory bodies are headed by people who are powerful in the Congress. Or that when systemic failures occur (like the E Coli breakout) not much is done to actually fix the system. Rather a quick fix is derived – drenching all meat with ammonia. Because it kills all bacteria.

It simply is a powerful industry, run by a few honchos, who are averse to relinquishing control.

And yes, the solution is simple. Buy organic. Buy at farmers markets. If you can afford it, pay a little more. The ‘Meal deals’ come at a price. Buy fair trade.

A lot of my American friends dislike paying more for food here in Australia. I hope you know now.