Food, Inc.: We Vote Three Times a Day
“The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000, but the image that’s used to sell the food … you go into the supermarket and you see pictures of farmers. The picket fence and the silo and the 1930s farmhouse and the green grass. The reality is … it’s not a farm, it’s a factory.”
That is a quote from food journalist Michael Pollan in Food, Inc. (talked about on LAist earlier this week, too), a film that explores and documents the truth being food production in the United States.
The film opens here in Los Angeles, at local eatery Brite Spot in Echo Park, where Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and a producer of the film, delves right in talking about the image the food industry has created for itself: as the wholesome, family owned business whose only interest is the consumers well-being and health. But, the reality is that of the 47,000 products that can be found in your average supermarket, they are produced by only four mono-national companies.
From that starting point, the film manages to tackle every aspect of a growing “agricultural industrial complex” in this country; Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO), the Farm Bill, corn subsidies, genetically modified seeds and the tyranny with which Monsanto governs our farmers, food safety and increasing presence of food poisons, and all of the political factors that have allowed for corporate interest to supersede consumer protection.
And it seems that there is a direct proportionality to the size of the agri-biz to the size of our waist line; as they grow, so do we. We have created a food system in which it is cheaper and easier to get unhealthy fast food instead of good produce. As a result, nationally, 60% of us are obese or morbidly obese and we spend close to $61B, per year in health care issues surrounding our weight. Additionally, this past April, it was announced by the Department of Public Health that a resident of Los Angeles was more likely to die of heart disease and diabetes, than any other natural cause or accident. Seems pretty counter to the images we have of the sun drenched beach babes that are the supposed norm of our city.
Here are some other relevant facts from the film:
- In 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted only 9,164.
- The average chicken farmer invests over $500,000 and makes only $18,000 a year.
- 30% of the land in the U.S. is used for planting corn.
- 70% of processed foods have some genetically modified ingredient.
- 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes; Among minorities, the rate will be 1 in 2.
This film is really remarkable in being able to take so much information about this issue, and make it viewable and understandable to the lay-person. Unfortunately, one of the most important information is left to the end; that each and every day, with each and every meal, we are placing a vote about how the food industry will continue. And, if we want the system to change, we have to start with ourselves and change what we put in our body.
However, the trash cans filled with empty containers of popcorn, soda, and candy wrappers is an irony to the challenges ahead.
Food, Inc.
opened Friday
Nuart Theatre
11272 Santa Monica Blvd.