Watching the documentary Food Inc, there were a few points that stood out most to me. I think one of the most important concerns that were brought up is the consumers not knowing the truth behind the food. Whether there is actual harm in our food or not, we still need to know what is going into our food. The harm that may actually be inside our food can be caused by how easy it is to produce crap food now days. Making mass produced food is a lot easier than it has been in the past because genetics have changed animals into growing faster and fatter. This causes harm to the environment by creating factories for these foods to be made, which causes pollution by emitting many CO2 gasses. However this isn’t a concern for the producer. The producer is mainly focused on money they receive even if it causes harm to the environment or the consumers. The use of pesticides and other substances are used in foods, whether it’s in the production of corn growing or in the food in general to help keep germs out. This also causes harm to the consumer and environment that we should be aware of.
Throughout the film Food Inc, I noticed there were quite a few subtitles stating “… declined to interview for this film.” This made me ask myself to why they chose not to interview for this documentary. This goes along the lines of point number one. All of the companies which preferred not to interview for this film are hiding information from the consumers, information that would make us not want to
If our food system revealed the truth behind the opaque doors, a multitude of changes would occur: cleanliness, to prices, to working conditions, and workers in general, if there is a greater amount of transparency, animals will be fed the appropriate foods and be treated humanely. Prices of the food would drop as people would be able to examine how their food is being made, (not being pleased with it) people would suddenly refuse to buy, protest, and switch to organic foods until prices were lowered. Finally, workers would be legal and clean from drugs, alcohol and also contagious diseases.
For example, the film presents the counterproductive result of feeding cows with contained brains of infected cows that spread a deadly disease through the cattle known as ‘the mad cow disease’. This type of intensive farming is characterized by its use of antibiotics and pesticides that cost higher prices for farmers. Some farmers turn into the industrial farming not always by choice but for companies that own or influence those intense farming practices. There is two agribusiness that has a monopoly the market by selling agricultural technologies to farmers such as pesticides, GMO, and fertilizers that often influence the public policy and farming practices. This system is unsustainable and produces cheap food products which cost is not included in the market but people end up paying for due to the externalities on health, social and environmental problems. As the documentary highly at the start, Americans hate the most the inconvenience of things and therefore some people take for granted their food and prefer to consumed processed products that are toxic, other people who live in food deserts do not have much choice to consumed these toxic products but is the system that limits their accessibility to affordable fresh
Problems/Harms: Serious health risks of genetically modified foods are ignored in order to benefit greedy billion dollar corporations.
For example, in the 1990s, there was a food scare, called Alar. “Alar was a chemical conventional growers sprayed on apples to help them ripen. In 1990 the Environmental Protection Agency found that Alar could cause cancer” (Pollan, 2009, p. 117). Since the EPA found that Alar could cause cancer, the was a huge jump in the demand for organic foods. In the book, Omnivore's Dilemma, it states, “According to the book Omnivore's Dilemma, it states,¨In a shed attached to the mill sit vat of liquid vitamins. Beside them are fifty-pound sacks of antibiotic drugs¨ (p.55). Industrial farmers who raise cattle, use antibiotics and other medications to make their cows grow faster and fatter. In conclusion, industrial organic is better for your family because there aren’t harmful chemicals like Alar, being used to produce your crops. Also, the farmers don't feed the animals medications and drugs to make them grow fat. They use organic feds which are better for the animals and resulting in a better tasting
In 2009 a movie by the name of Food Inc. was released that challenged the production of food we eat. The movie examines everything from the science of seeds all the way through the consumption of the food, the food’s often negative effects on the body. The movie ends with the line “You can change the world with every bite”. This quote embodies the heart behind movie that change starts with the individual, and how they make food choices. This sort of change that Food Inc. invokes implies that top down change that the consumer can bring about change to the seed level. Food Inc. challenges the processes that allow companies like Monsanto to feed the world. We must understand how media like Food Inc. effects this mission to feed the world by examining the movie, the history of Monsanto as a company, and looking at the response from both sides to these challenges made in the public square to better combat and address issues brought forth.
The food we eat and the quantity of it is what industries base their investments on; they use this to their advantage and produce more quantity than quality for us to consume, without taking into consideration the effect this might have on us or on the world as a whole. In the article “When a Crop Becomes King” written by Michael Pollan we see what the excessive use of a crop can do to our health and the environment. The vast production of products made with corn has made it the crop which is grown more than any other in the United States, but the process of adapting to the high consumption of corn came at a high cost. While corn is the easiest and cheapest substitute for sugar and animal food it is also linked to the cause of chronic diseases and serious, long-lasting damage to our ecosystems. The production of certain things is something we might not have control of but what we should have control of is our health and what better way than denying anything that we know might give us a hard time the power to do
As the world expands through time and business, the natural process of developing food is forced to adapt to the growing demands of civilization. Henceforth, the modern-day food industry is capable of producing a plethora amount of nutrients that sustains mass populations. However, is the modern tradition and technique of mass food production hiding a burdened truth behind the curtains of society’s unawareness? Is such truth more sinister than productive? Filmmaker Robert Kenner directed a documentary in 2008 where the methods of processing meats and harvesting crops were analyzed with their effects. As a result, Kenner’s documentary, Food Inc., has revealed that the ways foods are processed have consequently made them perilous for society. Through the use of
This food crisis is consequently causing an increasing gap between the rich and poor. This gap includes the amount and quality of food that is being consumed. Along the way, a solution to produce the amount of food needed to serve the population was to use Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). With the growing signs and evidence of the risk that GMOs bring, people have a right to know what is in the food that they are eating. Through conflict theory we can identify that the elite deter us from educating ourselves on the truth of what we are eating and make it almost impossible to change Genetically Modified Food (GMF).
Food is necessary for humans to be able to survive, but food nowaday is not being sustainable. There are too many harmful chemicals in them and some foods now are not even made out of real foods. Food is something that needs to be sustainable because humans have to consume it, and when it is not properly treated the harm goes to those who consume it. Food is being hindered by soil erosion, water pollution, the use of pesticides and herbicides, etc. The use of herbicide and pesticide is damaging to crops because these chemicals stay on crops and go to the bodies of those which consume them, and they don’t even know about these chemicals. There is a lot of propaganda in the pro side of the argument because they give a positive view but that
Throughout this semester we have covered many controversial topics such as mandatory labeling of GMO’s, and the use of cloned animals for meat products. We have watched documentaries such as King Corn and Food Inc., documentaries that have also coved these same topics. While watching these documentaries and discussing these topics it hit me hard that there are consumers in this world who are being fed lies. Lies, that they don’t even know are lies, due to the lack of knowledge that we as an industry supply. It sickens me that documentaries such as Food Inc. depict new technology such as GMO’s in every negative way possible. As an industry, we are not supplying consumers with enough knowledge so that they can depict lies from the truth. The
While I agree it is important to find a sustainable food source and way to produce such foods, people in this generation tend to be more concerned with organically and naturally grown foods. There are several companies that now offer 100% certified organic foods in which a number of people are now learning towards after hearing all of the derogatory statements involving Monsanto's genetically modified products. Many Monsanto stakeholders should already growing concerned of the safety implications of genetically modified foods. Biotech crops are completely unnatural and many are stating that Monsanto is "playing God" by creating these genetically modified seeds. Stakeholders are also concerned about destructive effects on those who ingest their products that are modified with the Roundup. It is a very valid and growing concern and because of this, Monsanto's stocks have continuously plummeted over the last few years; which is also where the stakeholder concerns lie. At this time there is no substantial evidence that has been produces to indicate that Monsanto's GM seeds will or can cause human harm, and it could very well be a long time until we can know for sure they won't. But in the meantime, as long as farmers are able to produce massive crops and save billions by using Monsanto's products, Monsanto will continue to produce these goods and service those willing to use them. I feel that there will come a day when they do discover that these GM products lead to harmful or fatal diseases and when they do, there will be a major shortage of food worldwide. It was stated back in September 2012 that French researchers had found a direct link between Monsanto corn and numerous cancers in lab rats. The two year study
Most food found in the grocery store is highly processed. Not just the ramen noodles or fruit loops, but the actual produce. Corporations use hormones, pesticides and antibiotics and genetic modification, which refer to
In the food industry there have been many issues and processes that have brought a large amount of question to the industry overall, like the meat packing process in its early stages. I can 't think of a more heated issue in the last few passing years then the controversy over Genetically modified organisms in the food industry. Some countries are for it some are against it. Many sides will argue that genetically mutated organisms (GMO) are bad for the food industry while others will argue the opposite. While genetically mutate organisms have proved to provide many positive uses on today 's earth the question still remains the same are GMO 's good for us, the environment, or at all. Also if they yield more negative
The food industry does not want you to know anything more than what you think about what goes on within our farms, because if you knew, you wouldn’t want anything to do with it and they would lose millions of dollars. The reality of it is, these are not farms we are getting our food from, it is a factory. Your image of the cows, pigs, and chickens running around freely is not what “farms” are like today at all. Our meat is being produced by huge corporations that have all the power in the food industry to do whatever they please to. The fruits and vegetables are being picked while still green all over the world wherever the food is in season after being sprayed with harmful chemicals so it stays fresh till it hits our kitchen tables. Our food is coming from factories, mass farming, and assembly lines, where the food has become a danger to us and the people producing it. This issue has a personal meaning for me because, I
Before watching Food, Inc., my knowledge of the food system was very minimal. I was aware that it was a large industry due to the society’s population but never thought about the harmful effects of it. It was shocking to learn about the horrors of the food industry being that we consume food every day. As seen in the movie, the large multinational companies that control the food system work their hardest to hide the truth about what we are eating. If companies were to reveal what happens behind closed doors, it is most likely consumers such as me would cease eating inorganic products.