Movie Review: Food, Inc.

June 12, 2009 by Brendan
Filed under: Movie News, Movie Reviews

Food, Inc. is the movie that the major food companies in the world do not want to see made but, luckily for them (and unluckily for the general population), not enough people will see it to really make a difference. The movie basically tells us the story of how powerful these major food processors have become and the real lack of regulation over these companies. In several cases, the people who are in charge of the regulation of the food industry are the very people who used to work for them. The movie focuses on the American food industry. I would like to hope, as a Canadian, that things are different in the Great White North but a series of events over the last several years really makes me question our own food laws.

Food, Inc. more or less points the finger directly at McDonald’s for ruining the food industry in America. They are the chain that first started treating the kitchen as an assembly line and because they were so successful at it, many of the food suppliers followed suit, beginning right from the farms where the animals were raised or the food was harvested and right up to the plants where the food was processed. Cheap labour became a standard. The focus became more on the quantity of food produced and not the quality. It really is quite disturbing to watch, right from how the animals are treated on the farms (if you even want to call them that) to the quality of the food that comes out of some of these factories.

Almost as horrifying as the quality of the food that we eat is the treatment of the animals that most of us have eaten. The cows are tortured. They are forced to stand in their own feces and eat corn, instead of grass, because corn makes them fatter. So fat that they can no longer stand on their own feet. Basically, the movie is telling us that if you have ever eaten any kind of meat in your entire life, there is a good chance you have eaten manure. Yeah, it’s not a great thought.

Similarly, chickens are kept in cages with no light and no ventilation. The ones that survive are fattened up in mere weeks. One chicken farmer in the movie lets us into this horrid world to see how the birds are treated. Not surprising, the processing plant with whom she dealt cancelled her contract. She was trying to stand up for the terrible conditions that her animals are treated and as a result, she may never sell another chicken for the rest of her life.

Food, Inc. really concentrates on the quality of the food that is produced, the political influence of the major food companies in the United States and the iron fist with which they run their various industries. It really is quite disturbing. Oddly enough, most of the big companies that were discussed in the film were given every opportunity to discuss their side of the story (if they even have one) in the movie. They all declined. A big plus of the movie is the fact that we are given alternatives to eating this mass-produced food – eating local; buying from farmers markets; cooking at home – there are several alternatives listed. You would only hope more people would heed the words delivered to us in Food, Inc.

In my case, it’s been about a week since I saw Food, Inc. and I know it hasn’t done a whole lot to change anything I was doing before I saw the movie. It’s the convenience of the major grocery stores, the hustle and bustle life in the big city that often makes it easier for one to eat at a McDonald’s or a Subway rather than cooking at home – a cheap excuse, I know. I really am going to have to sit down and re-strategize my eating habits. As I said earlier, I hope that, being in Canada, that our government does a lot more in terms of regulating the food industry. But with that being said, it was not too long ago that there was a major incident at Maple Leafs Foods that resulted in contaminated meat being produced in an Ontario plant and a major outbreak of listeriosis – people died. Even two weeks ago, I remember reading about a significant recall of President’s Choice meat products that happened this summer. This kind of stuff really has to stop happening. These companies that feed millions and millions of people around the world have to be more accountable. We trust them to put food on our table that we can eat without getting sick and without dying. If you want to see what is probably only a raindrop in the ocean of poor business practices and political irresponsibility, I really suggest you watch Food, Inc. It may not be the most pleasant film experience you will ever have but it sure is an eye-opener. I can almost assure you that your next trip to buy groceries or eat dinner will be at a local farm or perhaps a farmer’s market. It sure as hell won’t be McDonalds. (8.5 out of 10)

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