HMW 10 Food Inc

Food inc's premise is to explore areas of the food industry that we would usually never know of. At the beginning of the film it states, "the food industry has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous ten thousand" which reinforces the recurring factor that with the contrary to the introduction of new sciences to our food, we repeatedly are in a downward spiral that is the deterioration of our food. The Oscar-nominated film represents the notion that there is a curtain between our food and where its coming from because if we knew, we wouldn't want to eat it.

Food Inc. has the advantage over books of its kinds as it is able to state its case through images captured first hand. It can take us inside a modern chicken coop, with thousands of grotesquely plump birds crammed into a tiny space, or a mechanised slaughterhouse where carcasses are processed at such a speed that contamination seems inevitable. It has the pure shock factor, and reinforces the theory that one of the dominant discourses in the food industry, the media, only portray food as 'medicine or poison' (Andy). I would argue that less attention is given to the much bigger issue of how global eating habits will have to change in the next few decades. So far, it has just presented us with the argument, and not the direct solution. Some argue that "what we get on our screens is the PowerPoint version: the basic facts, the best quotes, and some snazzy animated graphs." Which although in part,may be true I don't really see much wrong with this as the condensed version is the cream of the crop (excuse the pun...) and what's wrong with wanting to know the best information?

Coming from a British audience, not much of this is shocking to me as a few years ago there was an epidemic where there were multiple documentaries and investigations such as these. It was actually a documentary similar to this that made me switch to vegetarianism. Watching the information so graphically reinforces that the factory system has been taken to the back of the kitchen. To learn that in 1970 the top 5 corporations associated with meat owned 25% of the market, compared to today with the top 4 owning an astonishing 80% it really shows the dominance that corporations hold on the industry. Farmers are no longer self employed, or have any say in the way their business is run. In one of the opening scenes,the camera sweeps over the aisles of one such brightly lighted, heavily stocked if nutritionally impoverished emporium. “There are no seasons in the American supermarket,” hearing the narrative, informative tone speak it made sense to me. Tomatoes in October? Strawberrys in January? Was this normal? I actually had no idea, as I'd never grown any of them myself, all I knew was that if i wanted any fruit in January I could have it.

Although none of this was supposedly new information for me, this in no way took away the shock factor. To learn that birds are now "raised in half the time, but are twice as big" shocked me. As the chickens grow substantially larger their bones and muscles cannot develop quick enough to keep up with the weight increase, and therefore they buckle under the sheer weight of themselves, meaning they can no longer walk.

Hearing about the deterioration of the industrial food industry from a first hand account was fascinating. One farmer, who agreed to talk but her hesitance and apprehension was apparent, explained that the corporations employ undocumented workers who cannot complain because they have no legal rights in the United States. She spoke of how the farmers are literally and metaphorically in debt to the company, as they constantly demand newer equipment and if you do not forfill their demands, your contract will be terminated. "A typical growers debt is $50,000 but on average only earns $18,000 a year."