EC entry Food Inc.

The documentary “Food Inc” directed by Robert Kenner shows just how much the food world has changed in such little time and the major impacts that it has had already. Food Inc goes in depth just what really is going on in this industry that the consumer doesn’t know about, and what even the government is trying to cover up. They use several jaw dropping facts and several horrifying images and videos to show the animal abuse in these places. The documentary talks to famous authors and critics about the industrialized food industry, small farmers, and other people who have been affected by these corporations.

The opening starts with an open corn field, and a rancher riding his horse through the beautiful open country and the narrator opens up by saying “the way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than the previous 10,000, but the image that is used to sell food is still the same” and cuts to a huge factory where they are processing and packaging whole chickens to send to the market. They add this in the movie to grab the views attention right away and shock them with what they are seeing. The critics and authors also express their opinion on how consumers are not being informed on what is happening. It’s not because consumers don’t want to know, it’s because there is little to no information about these companies that are producing this food, which is exactly what they want. Corn has also started to become a huge issue as it has become used more as an additive to products so much so that they have had to create other names for it. Another big concern they are worrying about is that the fast-food companies have started to take over the market and they decide what they want products produced, cared for, and how they want it distributed to consumers like chicken, beef, and even apples. The small local farmers are also affected by these changes as they are basically forced by these corporations to change and produce products there way, with little say so.

There is hope however experts have started taking these companies to court and are trying to get more transparency and allowing customers to know what occurred in the making of there products. The same situation happened in the 1990’s with the big Tobacco and cigarette companies and how they were getting sued and were required by the government to do more research and state on packages about the potential dangers of using them. Experts also say that the consumer is also able to disrupt these mega farming companies by spending their money elsewhere and on organic or harm free animal products.

This documentary really opened my eyes to some of the issues with the farming and ranching. These big companies need to start being held accountable for their actions and the harm that they are doing to the environment, consumers, and the market as a whole. We as a society need to think about the harm they are doing to both our health, jobs, and even our future and decide that if we really want this to stop we need to make a change as well with our spending and where we spend it, and know where the money is really going. I hoped this summary and deep dive into this film was able to help give you a sense of the food industry as of now, and how the only people that can really change it is the customer.