I know I am a bit behind the times, but I finally got around to watching Food Inc on Netflix. I am a huge Morgan Spurlock fan, so I was exposed to quite a bit by Supersize me. However, I was not prepared for the literal firestorm that the way our food is produced brings upon our personal Fitness. Our health is not just threatened by GMO’s but also by the methods that our food is created and prepared for consumption.
The food industry literally changed by the franchising concept, starting with McDonald’s. The fast food industry moves so much product, so quickly that it literally changed the way that our food in produced and the results are far from ideal.
Very few of the farmers interviewed would actually allow you to look inside how the chickens were raised on their farms. The problem is, that were it up to the farmer, the reporters would have been allowed in no problem, but it was the larger chicken companies that would not allow entrance. The single woman farmer that allowed admittance showed the shocking situation: chickens closed in so tightly that they cold not move, so large on top that they cannot walk. The issue here is the growth hormone use in the chickens, they now grow in 3 months what used to take more than a year. I want you to imagine what the transference of that growth hormone into people could cause or is currently causing.
The food industry has also started moving into using illegal labor for most of their food production. This is not different than any other industry, but the food industry threatens to deport people if they do not work for the low wages they are paid. Not to mention that the giant factories have a less than stellar method for cleaning involving a lot of chemicals, more specifically ammonia which is actually added to the food to kill bacteria.
Interestingly enough, the first major story was of a woman that lost her young son to e-coli and the fight that the food industry put up not just to keep her quiet, but the years they spent trying to do nothing about it. They spent millions in court, when all the woman wanted to see was plan of action that would prevent it from happening to another family.
Monsanto, the company that produces many other seeds used in farms was also a major issue in the documentary. They own all of the seeds that they sell, since they are biologically modified and farmers are not allowed to save seeds for the following season. It has become almost impossible to farm without Monsanto, a company which does not properly preserve biological material but rather alters is much to the determent of humans. One of the farmers mention that it is difficult to compete, because Monsanto regularly brings suits against upstart farmers to keep them in line, even when there is no hope of winning. Farmers are in a precarious situation, because they are mortgaged up to the hilt and any shift in their income can and will kill them; modern farms look nothing like you would expect.
Something must be done, and it can only be done by an informed populous. Health is my personal lifelong battle, but only together can we win the war. The problems are so widespread, including what you think are Organics that you are buying from big box stores such as Wal Mart. Being nutritionally informed and supplementation have become more important than ever. Food inc was most definitely an eye opener.