Josephine Chen

Health/ Fang
Period 2
April 11, 2011

Food Inc. Review

Food Inc. is the food industry’s version of An Inconvenient Truth and mimics the

muckraking style of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. The film reveals awful truths about the

mistreatment of farm animals and the generic, chemically bloated foods we consume on a daily

basis. Prior to watching Food Inc., I had only experimented with vegetarianism only once.

PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, shows videos of animals being ruthlessly

slaughtered, much like the segments in the movie. Upon witnessing these horrors, I immediately

decided to stop eating meat and switch to vegetarianism instead. It worked for about a month

until the limitations of living in a household full of omnivores finally stopped me from

continuing. However, Food Inc. has managed to touch upon my vegetarian streak.

The film mentions cows being stuck knee-deep in their own manure. Often times, the

cows are sent into slaughterhouses without being cleaned, so that grinded meat ends up with

traces of manure. I was utterly disgusted at this revelation. In addition, the cows are hung upside

down, by their feet, awaiting a knife that delivers one quick cut to the neck. Not only is it

inhumane, it is absolutely intolerable. Another animal featured in the film was the chicken.

Chickens are pumped with hormones that allow them to grow full size in about 8 weeks. Because

their bones don’t grow at the same pace, they collapse under their own weight. Big producers,

such as Tyson and Perdue, own about 80% of the market and thus, it is near impossible to

consume organic meats without burning a hole in our wallets.

What happens to be more disgusting is the fact that the FDA seems to be completely

incompetent in the matter. The inspections they perform have decreased and these big producers
are allowed to carry out their operations in the name of profit. One woman tearfully admitted that

the farmers don’t have much say in what they do. In fact, they are hanging by a thread, trying to

pay off debts that the companies practically forced upon them. Binding contracts require that

they purchase farm equipment whether or not they have the means to do so. The companies

govern how they raise their chickens so that each farmer reaches a certain quota. The farmers

don’t ask questions nor do they dare reveal the conditions of their farms. If they do, the

companies cut them off. Basically these companies have a monopolistic control over the market,

which the government has clearly allowed.

In retrospect, the film is depressing. It sheds light on the fact that yet another industry is

dominated by giants. One look at this film sends the viewer into a state of nausea. Many people

don’t realize that the food entering their mouths has been treated the way it has. It is more

depressing that those in the lower income brackets can’t do anything about it. Because these

giant companies exercise such great control over the industry, they set the prices. Of course it’s

easy to lower the price of a pound of processed meat well below that of a head of cabbage:

they’re practically feeding us garbage. This film puts us one step closer to stopping this mass

production of filth, but we are essentially powerless to stop it unless the regulations are put into

place to do so.