Behind the scenes of Food Inc.
What is Food Inc.?
Food Inc. is a film that studies corporate farming in the United States, concluding that agribusiness produces food that is unhealthy and in a way, harmful and abusive to both animals and employees. The film’s first segment examines the industrial production of meat (chicken, beef and pork), calling it brutal and economically weak. The second segment looks at the industrial production of grains and vegetables, mainly corn and beans, again, labeling this economically and environmentally weak. The film’s third and final segment is about the economic and legal power, such as food label laws of the major food companies; the profits of which are based on supplying inexpensive but contaminated food, with the heavy use of fertilizers.
As recounted in this broad, shockingly informative documentary, sick animals, environmental filth, infected and unhealthy food and obesity, diabetes and other health issues are only the more obvious problems with a highly programmed and central system that advertized efficiency- as the utmost value in food production. Food Inc. shows us a powerful group of producers that set the conditions under which today’s farmers and food workers operate, in order to maximize profits. Food Inc. is a great, shocking and upsetting reflection of industrial food production, revealing truths about what we eat, how it is produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.
Facts about Food Inc.
- In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market. Today, the top four control more than 80% of the market.
- In the 1970s, there were thousands of slaughterhouses producing the majority of beef sold. Today, there are only 13 slaughterhouses.
- In 1972, the FDA performed 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA performed only 9,164.
- The average chicken farmer invests over $500,000 and makes only $18,000 a year.
- Smithfield Hog Processing Plant, located in Tar Heel N.C, is the largest slaughterhouse in the world.
- Smithfield Hog Processing Plant kills approximately 32,000 hogs a day.
- The average American eats over 200lbs of meat a year.
- The modern supermarket stocks, on average, 47,000 products, most of which are being produced by only a handful of food companies.
- About 70% of processed foods have some genetically modified ingredient.
- According to the American Diabetes Association, 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes.
- In 2007, there were 73,000 people sickened by the E. coli bacteria.
- Organics is the fastest growing food segment, increasing 20% annually.
- In the 1970s, there were thousands of slaughterhouses producing the majority of beef sold. Today, there are only 13 slaughterhouses.
- In 1972, the FDA performed 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA performed only 9,164.
- The average chicken farmer invests over $500,000 and makes only $18,000 a year.
- Smithfield Hog Processing Plant, located in Tar Heel N.C, is the largest slaughterhouse in the world.
- Smithfield Hog Processing Plant kills approximately 32,000 hogs a day.
- The average American eats over 200lbs of meat a year.
- The modern supermarket stocks, on average, 47,000 products, most of which are being produced by only a handful of food companies.
- About 70% of processed foods have some genetically modified ingredient.
- According to the American Diabetes Association, 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes.
- In 2007, there were 73,000 people sickened by the E. coli bacteria.
- Organics is the fastest growing food segment, increasing 20% annually.
Food Inc. was created to share with the world about what goes on in the factories and farms; where our food comes from and how it is processed. A lot of the food chains turned down their interviews with Food Inc. because they did not want to share what goes on in their farms. Watching Food Inc. definitely changed my outlook on food. I certainly recommend that people should take a look at Food Inc. We all as a nation should have the authority to know where and how our food is processed.