Food, Inc.

The premise of the Food, Inc., is simple: how much do we know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families?

While we may look at the price (if we’re trying to save money), the nutritional label (if we want to be health conscious), or the brand name (if we’re brand loyal, through habit or choice), how much do we really know about where the food was grown or processed? A hundred years ago, Americans were much more reliant upon growing, purchasing, and consuming food that was regionally grown and in-season. Today, the average American is presented with a startling array of produce, animal products, and processed foods upon walking into a supermarket. Food, Inc., calls that diversity into question.

On the website, it notes that, “In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.”

The documentary makes a clear link between Americans’ health and the food that we consume. A recent op-ed column in the New York Times entitled Big Food vs. Big Insurance notes that most of the discussion on health care reform focuses on the health care system while outright ignoring the “rising tide of chronic disease linked to diet.” As I watched Food, Inc., I began to think more about this disconnect. Is it due to consumer apathy, food pricing, or ignorance of nutritional values? Or have large corporations profited from making food available “faster, fatter, bigger, and cheaper”? What price do we pay for that?

At one point, Gary Hirschberg, founder of Stonyfield Farm, argues that, “The irony is that the average consumer does not feel very powerful. They think that they are the recipients of whatever industry has put there for them to consume. Trust me, it’s the exact opposite. Those businesses spend billions of dollars to tally our votes. When we run an item past the supermarket scanner, we’re voting.” After seeing Food, Inc., I began to wonder: when it’s my money, my health, and my well-being on the line, what am I going to vote for?