Food, Inc.

The documentary, Food, Inc., could be classified as a horror film. Seeing how farm animals have been engineered and the atrocious conditions in which they live their brief lives is horrifying. I am only a little embarrassed to admit that I covered my eyes and sobbed through parts of this movie.

Yet, it begs to be seen. Someone in the film makes the point that it’s crazy that Americans need to be educated on where our food comes from, but it’s the truth. We have become eerily far removed from something as basic as the food we eat.

Our farms have become factories. A few giant food manufacturers have been able to demand – and get – products exactly as they want them from American farmers. When one brave farmer stood up to Tyson Foods and said she wanted to keep some windows (for ventilation) in her over-crowded chicken houses, Tyson dropped her as a supplier.

Even if animal welfare isn’t a concern of yours, the movie is horrifying on other levels, too. Those herds of cattle that have to stand in their own feces? That’s where e. coli gets started. Our health is dependent on the health of the animals we eat. And the food those animals eat.

You’d be hard-pressed to eliminate corn from your diet, even if you tried. Guess what farm-raised fish eat? That’s right – and corn is a food not typically found in either fresh or salt water. We’ve freakin’ taught fish to eat corn. And, you can bet it’s corn that was genetically engineered in a lab.

And, the FDA – the government agency tasked with watching over our food supply? Thanks to political cronyism in both parties, it’s generally headed by former executives from one of the big food conglomerates the agency is supposed to be regulating.

Terrifying, yet hopeful. See it. Tell friends to see it. And, then go support a local farmer. See it!