Blog

Food, Inc.: enough to make you re-think your food

Anna Shepard | 25.02.10

It’s an Academy Award nominated documentary, praised not only by sustainable and organic food fans, but also by American chat show diva Oprah Winfrey. “You have a right to know where you food is coming from,” she told millions of American viewers, encouraging everyone to watch the hard-hitting expose Food, Inc. After her endorsement, DVD sales rocketed to the top of Amazon’s charts. She’s right, of course, we should know more about our modern food industry, but once you’ve seen this film, you’d be forgiven for losing your appetite.

The truth does not make easy viewing. Directed by Robert Kenner - with contributions from Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation – the film looks at how a handful of large corporations has hijacked American food production, using increasingly suspect industrial techniques to serve up cheap ingredients, while also going to great lengths to maintain an illusion of wholesome diversity.

“Bigger, fatter, faster” is the industry’s approach, at the expense of human health as well as animal welfare. Although the film uses American examples, you can bet your last chicken nugget that the same industrialized systems are at work in the UK. In fact, in the director’s talk - following one of London early screenings - Keener told the audience how close he came to filming in Europe, after discovering it was home to one of the world’s largest abattoirs.

From a chicken shed where ‘redesigned’ chickens have been bred to be so fat, they can’t stand up, to exploited workers who live off fast-food because a portion of broccoli is more expensive than a cheeseburger, Kenner guides us through various disturbing scenarios. He tells the story of Barbara Kowalcyk, mother to Kevin, a two and a half year old boy who died from E.coli poisoning after eating a contaminated burger. Her efforts to tighten meat standards reveal the dark forces at work to protect food companies and to keep consumers in the dark. You learn that profit has been put above everything. America, as a result, is facing an obesity and Type 2 diabetes crisis, as well as a serious public health hazard.

The film changes tack towards the end, focusing as much on upbeat messages about the power of consumer action as the dismal state of our food affairs. He draws parallels with cigarettes and the tobacco industry, forced to change and tighten its regulations.

We can all do our bit, stresses Kenner. We can demand to know more about our food, become informed consumers, vote with our wallets, and – of course - as the Oprah-effect demonstrated, tell others to watch the film.
 

Editor's Note:

For more information and actions you can take related to Food Inc., see Hungry for Change.

We further invite you to see writer Julia Haile's excellent review of Food Inc.:

"To my mind the most significant point made by Kenner was that the food industry is focusing on technical solutions to solve problems that arise from the industrial food system we've created. His view was that they should be changing the system itself. Factory farms, mega industrial processing, animals designed to fit machines and crops that are far removed from nature may not actually be the best way of feeding the world's population." Click to read the entire article.

Food Organic | Share +
organic, farming, eric schlosser, food inc, academy awards, local foods, robert kenner, kevin's law

Greenhouse Morning News

Greta Jonyniate | 29.02.12

News stories – 29th February 2012

Top news stories

Heartland associate taught 'biased' climate course at Ottawa university – The Guardian
Fukushima, a year on: 3,000 workers take on the twisted steel and radiation– The Guardian
RenewableUK unites with UK's largest union to drive green jobs – Business Green
EU vote expected to back plan to prop up carbon price – Business Green

Solar

‎Solar Investing – FT Adviser
Solar scheme hopes for 18th century home - This is Gloucestershire
‎Bristol City Council charts its solar potential – Solar Power Portal

‎Wind
‎
Wind myths: Turbines increase carbon emissions – The Guardian
Wind myths: Turbines can damage your health – The Guardian
Opposition groups kick up storm over windfarms in Wales – The Guardian
Cameron leads defence of wind energy policy – Business Green

Food
‎
Mexico City's floating gardens threatened by urbanisation – The Guardian
Food giants cook up sustainable beef masterplan – Business Green
Animal health 'a key part of keeping the world fed' - Scotsman
‎Seattle to Create Nation's Largest Public Food Forest – Treehugger

Ethical Finance
‎
What are the options for financing climate change adaptation? – The Guardian
Intelligent Energy fundraising nets $30m - FT
UK rises to fifth place in global renewable investment league‎ Solar Power Portal
Challenging year ahead for renewables investments – Ernst & Young‎ Environmental Finance

Interesting news

New Zealand's penguin power – The Independent
Lofty ambitions: why green roofs are the future of urban gardening – The Ecologist
The Ecologist meets… eco designer Alice Asquith – The Ecologist
6 Simple Ways to Reduce Your Company’s Carbon Footprint – Inhabitat

Environment | Share +
solar, farming, wind energy, food, wind power, wind turbine, green news, wind, wind power news, solar news

Hungry For Change

Greta Jonyniate | 14.03.12

Ten Simple Steps To Create Positive Change in the Food System

You can make a difference - with every penny you spend on food - thinking consciously about what sort of food you are buying and why it is important.  Here are ten simple steps you can take to create a positive change in the food system (availabe on Hungry for Change website):

1. Join the Soil Association.

2. Choose a climate friendly diet. Eat seasonal produce and eat less meat.

3. Buy organic. Reduce the risk of environmental contamination by pesticides.

4. Grow your own food. Cheap and fun!

5. Join Food For Life Partnership.

6. Tell the government your feelings on GM.

7. Support the case for biodiversity - the “Save the Bees” campaign.

8. Support our farmers - get on their land. Visit farms and enquire how you can help support small, local businesses.

9. Get involved locally. Shop at farmers markets.

10. Learn new self-sufficiency skills.

If you have not already done so - you might like to watch Food Inc., it is a real eye opener.  It also puts everything in context and explains - very graphically and very powerfully - just what impact our industrialised food systems are having on our health, wellbeing, psychology and our future.

Food | Share +
organic, farming, activism, mcdonalds, gm, food inc., industrial farming