Food, Inc

After viewing the movie Food, Inc a lot of thoughts are ringing through my head.  I was amazed to see the way our food is produced today.  The notion of farming has completely changed.  The picture of the red barn, with chickens running wild, pigs laying in mud and cows grazing on grass is a thing of the past.  This is not our reality today.  Our food is basically produced in a factory.  The animals are raised in horrible conditions that are very unsanitary.  It was hard to watch.  Cows are no longer feed grass, but corn which gets them bigger faster.  Chickens are grown in dark house’s where they see no sunlight and are crowded together sitting in their feces.  Chickens have been modified to grow faster, and to produce bigger breasts, as that is what sells.  I found it shocking that the bones of the chickens do not develop properly and due to the large amount of weight they carry, they are able to only take a few steps.  As one farm said, faster, fatter, bigger and cheaper, that is motto of our food industry.  The other subject I found very disheartening was the power of one company, Monsanto.  The film stated “In 1996 Monsanto began selling Roundup ready soybeans and only 2% of soybeans in the U.S. contained their patented gene. In 2008 over 90% of soybeans in the U.S. contained Monsanto’s patented gene”.  I find it outrageous Monsanto was able to genetically modify soybeans, patented them, and with that put tons of farmers out of business.  They have had huge negative impact on our farming industry today.

I intend to consider even more where my food is coming from. I will limit my intake of animal products, and know what I am putting in my body.  I plan to buy from companies that treat workers, animals, and our environment with respect.  It was great to see that the organic industry is growing, and hopefully more and more companies will jump on board.  This was a very eye opening film.