Food Inc: A summary... and a challenge!

Food, Inc. exposes America's industrialized food system and its effect on our global environment, individual and societal health, world economy and workers' rights. And while the film doesn’t make a central point of it, viewers cannot help but shake their heads at the atrocities to animal welfare that are demonstrated throughout the film.

"The food we eat has changed more in the past 50 years than in the previous 10,000." From the seeds to the supermarket and every step in between, there is very little that is natural left in the food industry. Produce has become so engineered, we can hardly say a tomato is really a tomato anymore… it’s more like “the notion” of a tomato. While marketers try to make us feel good about the bounty and beauty of healthy fresh crops that yield abundant quantities, feeding the world, in reality, a heavy veil hides the reality that our food is really coming out of factories and laboratories.

Sitting and standing in confined spaces, livestock wallow in their own filth, in the very spot where they eat the processed corn feed they are given to fatten them up as quickly as possible.... so quickly their bones and organs can't keep up, crippling them so they can only take but a few steps at a time. Disease spreads quickly and rampantly, so antibiotics are a must. However after so many decades of this practice, “superbugs” have developed, resistant to the antibiotics. And we wonder why it seems that more and more often in the news we’re hearing reports of massive food recalls due to E.coli and Salmonella outbreaks.

Lining grocery store shelves are thousands and thousands of products. But this is really just “an illusion of diversity.” In reality, only a handful of conglomerates are involved. One such company was spotlighted in the film: Monsanto. Food Inc just scratches the surface of the power, control, and perhaps even conspiracy, that is Monsanto. More can be seen in the film “The Future of Food” (which you can buy online http://www.thefutureoffood.com/ or view on youtube in 9 parts, search: future of food – part 1).

The Economic implications are also outlined in Food Inc, the bottom line being: farmers cannot afford to live in their profession, and certainly cannot afford to fight big corporations in lengthy lawsuits (afterall, it took Oprah $1 million to fight her case for freedom of speech when she just said something the beef industry didn’t like). Government subsidies are required, and guess where that money comes from; taxpayers are funding the GMO companies. Further, those subsidies wipeout the indigenous markets in 3rd world countries, making them dependent on supply of food from developed countries. Even at home, a family struggling to put food on the table has to choose between a head of broccoli at $1.29 or a cheeseburger for $1. How can we possibly expect people to “take responsibility” for their health when soda, candy, and fast food is less expensive than fruit, vegetables, and healthier fare? And then in the long run, we have to pay for medications to control blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, and other measures that indicate our lifestyles are catching up with us. And now we’re seeing these typically “adult diseases” becoming epidemics among our children.

An interesting note: Every one of the manufacturing companies that were given the opportunity to tell their side of the story for the film declined. They do not want us to see what is behind that heavy curtain.

Food Inc really made it clear what a mess we’ve made of things. As one organic farmer in the film is quoted “We’ve been very successful at hitting the bullseye of the wrong target.”

Of course the film ends on a positive note, as much as it can. The solution: sustainable agriculture - buying local, at farmers markets, community supported agriculture, and organic whenever possible. Support organizations that are lobbying for labeling of GMO products. Every time you purchase food, it is a vote. The industry bows to the demand of individual consumers, so ultimately the power IS in our hands. But we also need policy to change so that a bag of chips doesn’t cost less than a bunch of carrots.

To see a trailer of the film, and read more about how you can help make a difference, go to

www.takepart.com/foodinc.

For my part, I purchase organic meats and produce whenever possible. I avoid purchasing wheat, corn, and soy products (being the most highly GMO’d foods) as much as I can.

And, today I’d like to issue you a challenge: for every person who goes to see Food Inc and then writes to me to tell me what they are committed to changing in their food shopping habits, I will donate $1 to the Canadian Organic Growers (

http://www.cog.ca/index.htm), whose mission is “To lead local and national communities towards sustainable organic stewardship of land, food and fibre while respecting nature, upholding social justice and protecting natural resources.”

So I implore you to go see this film for yourself*, and then write me at

audrey@springrenual.ca about what YOU will do differently. In the coming months, I will share with you all what others are doing to make a difference.

*if you see the film in Toronto, it's playing at the Cumberland Theatre (Yorkville), and if you take your movie stub to the Whole Foods a short walk north on Avenue Rd, they'll give you $10 off a $40 purchase!