I want to share with readers a documentary called Food Inc. Many of you may have heard about it or even seen it and now with its Oscar nomination for best Documentary Feature many more will too.

What struck me most about this documentary is its ability to give us a broad view of the food industry. Right from the beginning the viewer was given a sense of the marketing tactics designed to make us feel comfortable with the food we are consuming. Pastoral lands, sunny, happy, healthy pictures found on the wrappers and boxes of various products giving us the impression its coming from humble family owned farms. We come to understand how different that is from the reality of the food industry itself.

My limited understanding of where are food comes from was surely expanded within minutes of pressing play on the DVD player. I was plunged into the conditions of animals; chickens, pigs and cows but not with a shock agenda but just the reality. The reality that is born in part due to consumer demand but more so from, what I gathered, was a corporate take over of food production, manufacturing and distribution. The four players in the US market appear to have set the the target to become bigger, faster and care little for anyone who may come in the way of their business plan.

We are given a clear view of the treatment of people who work in the factories including illegal immigrants or farmers who by choice or coercion partner with the big corporations. It was astounding what goes on behind the scenes to which you and I are so far removed as consumers. As poorly as the animals can be treated, so to is the human being. Intimidation, muzzling, life ruining, fear mongering, callus tactics to keep people in line and money directed where it needs to go….up the corporate food chain straight to the share holders.

One man’s story, a seed cleaner Moe Parr, really pulled on my heart strings. The Monsanto Company, who now owns the patented gene in 90% of America’s soybeen seeds, went after this older man fiercely in court. Without going into any further detail, it was an eye opener into just how far these companies will go and its not pretty. Barbara Kowalcyk who lost her two year old son to E. coli, received no proper response from anyone even though a trace lead directly to the company that provided the tainted meat. All of this has prompted her and her family to become safer food system advocates.

What about what’s in our food? Wow! that was a whole other surprise. I thought I was quite well versed on my food labels but what I knew didn’t even scratch the surface. Touching on health concerns like diabetes, other illness and death associated with products we consume weekly truly put things into perspective.

Not surprisingly, none of the companies would be interviewed. Given how they respond to criticism through threats and litigation while keeping everything hidden from the public, we should have deep concerns. There were many brave people who did speak up in this documentary at great personal/financial risk. There were individuals who also gave us hope for the future such as Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms and others who provided reasons to take a trip to the organic section of our grocers. Loosening the strangle hold these companies have on many people and small business/farmers, comes through an informed buyer.

Again, this not what I call a full throttle “anti” anything film. Instead I found it to be informative. It is as balanced as it could be without corporate voices stepping out of their shadows to truly reveal themselves. It was holistic in its approach; shining a light on the food industry and the results of decisions made for us and by us. The next step upon seeing this film is changing the way food is produced, how we shop and making better choices for each meal.

I must emphasize it was well researched and did its best to give us a reason to care. Its not going to scare you completely away from food but it will give you some insight into the lack of transparency, principals and values that factor into the food industry itself.

If you are into documentary film as I am, you may want to go rent this one and see for yourself.

Food Inc. Trailer

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