Food Inc- Saw it!

On Saturday, Dan and I saw the film "Food Inc." at an independant movie theatre in SoHo. I know the film has a very limited release, but I urge all of my readers to PLEASE remember to rent it when it comes out on video. I posted the trailer a few days ago, and more information can be found at the website HERE

This film lifts the veil on the American food industry and exposes how our food supply is now controlled by just a handful of huge corporations that often put profit ahead of the consumer's health and safety. It was an absolute eye-opening experience, and it's changed the way I think about processed food, meats, produce, and the chemicals that I've (unknowingly!) been injecting into my body. The movie is NOT a gore fest trying to scare you into never going near a steak again- it doesn't focus on that stuff. Instead, the information is presented very thoughtfully, and we are shown some shocking truths about the way our food is produced, how Americans eat, and where we are headed from here.

When you walk through the supermarket, you see labels on the food everywhere that try to perpetuate the image of a quaint little midwestern farm, with a red barn and a picket fence. In actuality, our food is raised on massive factory farms and mega industrial plants. The system is more productive and ever, and allows us the CHEAPEST, and most affordable food that our society has ever known- but at what COST to our health? Farmers are afraid to speak out, at the fear of lawsuits from the massive corporations that sustain them.

It's dangerous to have a national food system that is controlled by powerful corporations that don't WANT you to see how your food is made, think about where it comes from, or criticize their processes. The simple process of planting and harvesting food has become so complex and mutated through antibiotics, genetic lab-created food, and chemicals.

The film goes inside a chicken farm and we get to see the unethical things that antibiotics and high-tech breeding are doing to these animals. It used to take a chick 3 months to grow into adulthood- now it takes about 40 days. The chickens have massive oversized breasts, because Americans want white meat chicken more than dark meat. These chickens are so deformed that many cannot even stand because of the weight of these massive breasts and malformations, and a significant amount of them die before they are even brought to the market. The farmer who runs the chicken farm is now IMMUNE to antibiotics because of the amount of antibiotics that these chickens have injected into their food just to keep them alive long enough to slaughter them. After giving the interview for this tour, Tyson dropped her contract and she lost everything just for talking about it and exposing these conditions in the film.

What's empowering is that the consumer DOES yield the power to change this, and we each have the opportunity to VOTE on this system 3 times a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner! Check out this film, consider paying a bit extra for the better health of your family and your children, and purchase organic food items at ANY opportunity. Support small local farms and farmers markets!