So I watched Food Inc. yesterday. Reaction? As Janice from Friends would say: OH MY GOD.
I knew it was bad but this bad? Suddenly that horrible smell, the one that englufed us on the way from Tucson to San Diego, is believable as from "cow farms". I've seen many farms here in Germany and none smell that bad. Well, there was that cattle smell when you got close but nothing that made you want to gag.
The first half of the film shows the current practices in the meat packing industry, particularly chicken, cows and pigs. But what really got me angry is the corn and soy industries.
I think you know the story by now: corn is heavily subsidized in the States which translates to cheap. In addition to flodding other countries with cheap corn from the US and thus screwing their farmers over because they can't compete, it made it much cheaper to feed chicken cows and pigs with corn. Here is where it gets really gross: cows are not supposed to eat corn, their natural diet is grass. They get very sick on the corn-diet, and their digestive tracts become ridden with E. Coli. The omega 6- omega 3 ratio get screwed up with omega 6 rising too high in relation to omega 3.
The movie also talks about how they treat their employees: a lot are illegal workers that they help to get into the country because you know, desperate and poor equals cheap labor.
The most disgusting story was the soy industy and a company called Monsanto dominating the soy-seed market because they patented a pesticide-resistant seed. If anyone is found saving their seeds or has their field contaminated by their patented seed (they have a team of investigators roaming the country, charming, wouldn't you say?), they'll have their ass sued for patent infringement.
There's also a feel good undertone in the movie where they show natural farms where chickens pigs and cows roam free and actually see sunlight. They slaughter in the fresh air. The farmer in charge was saying how they tried to shut him down because slaughtering outside was not sanitary but after several failures to show any contamination, they let it go.
I usually detest consipiracy theories in the order of "Big companies screwing over the small man" but it somehow adds up. Two or three huge companies dominating one market and dictating their terms. I wonder how the situation is in Germany. I doubt it is equally as bad. First clue is it is still very easy here to spot a lot of farms with cows and chickens running around. But I don't know to what extent they are factory farming the animals. But on some level they must be because meat prices vary like crazy. Some supermarkets have very cheap meat and others way more expensive.
Here's the trailer to the movie:
FOOD, INC.: Movie Trailer - Watch more top selected videos about: FOOD,_INC., Robert_Kenner
Another two movies to watch are:
King Corn
and Fat Head
... and yes, still on my reading list is The Omnivore's Dilemma.
Hoda
Oh I've been meaning to watch that movie. Habib has and has told me about it. Either way, that, and the fact that the majority of produce at the local supermarket are GMO's, has made me buy mostly organic or conventionally grown items usually in season and locally.
ReplyDeleteHabib and went to this screening of a movie on Monsanto, and it really is that bad. Eversince Alan Shihadeh made us read in our course this article on the car and oil industry, and another one called "The Oil We Eat", I have very little faith in Big Corporations. Often the serve the bottom line employing actively unethical/evil methods. I was not too surprised with the food industry (one of the many reasons of my growing support for de-institutionalization).
Actually I think Big Coorps serve the people. I liked how the movie ended, saying that every time we buy something we're making a small vote.
ReplyDeleteAnd you can see it here, when I first came to Germany, there was way less options. Now there are a lot of organic supermarkets, and I notice stuff like major companies making sure there is MSG in their food.
Right now I'm excited that I may have found a place that sells only grass-fed beef. You can order a meat-packet online for 45€ that has 6 Kg of mean (including a steak). Will have to try them out after the vacation.
Seriously, how do you sign up to get new posts delivered to your email?
I've read the Omnivorous' Dilemma book. It's more or less what you've seen in the Food Inc. movie in writing. It's a good book and I started buying more organic meat (even though more expensive) after reading it.
ReplyDelete