Food Inc.
Pastoral (countryside, the farm) Fantasy:
Marketing (sales) image
Reality (opposite of fantasy):
Chicken, Beef, Wheat come from
Factory Farms (less healthy, unsafe for workers)
Secret Why?
Industrial (factory) Food
1st = fast food Industrial restaurants
Assembly line, conveyer belt
Why? Less skilled workers (pay less)
Factory system
Low wage & low skill
Food cheaper and profit
Uniformity, cheapness, large
Quantity over quality
Huge purchaser
Hand full of companies ctrl all
Meat producer for fast food
Chicken Factory Farms (last 30 years)
Grow too fast, too large: can’t stand up
= more profit
Extra large breasts (white meat)
Most expensive part
Over crowded, leads to diseases
Given medicine = antibiotics
Why do the big companies want no cameras
Illegal workers scared to complain, Why?
CORN
Illusion of diversity in super market (many products)
In Reality: Few companies and crops
Many products from Corn
Ketchup, sweet and low, batteries
Fast food, Coke…….
Corn in most foods
High fructose corn syrup (sweetener, like sugar)
Leading to obesity
Feed to cow, chicken, fish
Unnatural, less healthy
Why use it? Corn is cheap
Feed lot: Cow Factory (many cows in small space)
Lots of manure (inside is E. coli, bacteria)
Some E. coli can make you very sick
Unintended Consequences food factories
E. coli (bacteria) in food from cows manure
Making people sick/dead
Food factories less safe
Less Regulation: government checking less food safety
Need more protection laws
Big Food Companies not careful enough
The Dollar Menu
Why do people eat unhealthy?
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Cheap (than fruit & Veg) & Fast
Subsidized: gov helps support farmers
Wheat, corn, soy beans
Biggest predictor of obesity?
Lower income
Diabetes
Major Cause: eating too much sugar
In the Grass
Natural cows eat grass
Old style farms: open air, smaller, cleaner
Slaughterhouse
Slaughter house workers = exploited (taken advantage off)
-low pay, lack of safety
-treated as a human machine
Used to be good job
 got rid of unions, illegal immigrants
 fast food industry model (factory)
Hidden Costs (to cheap food)
environmental costs, health costs, workers abuse
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Packaing: plastic
E. Coli (bacteria)
Manure (factories) & general pollution
GMO: genetically modified organisms
Business as solution:
environmental and profitable
organic: natural grown
o no chemicals:
 insecticide: poison insects
 herbicides: kills weeds
 chemical fertilizer
 antibiotics: cows, chickens
sustainability: continue/preserve
o without harming
FROM SEED TO SUPERMARKET
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Changes in Farming
o old fashion to hi-tech, GMO
Patent on seed (own life, patent = copyright)
GMO Soy Bean: 90% in US same kind (Monsanto)
Farmers cannot collect and use own seeds
o must buy new seeds each year from Monsanto (U.S. seed company)
Monsanto: monopoly, tries to own all the soy seeds
o sue small farmers
The Veil:
GMO labeling of cloned animals
“right to know”: what is in your food
Big food companies have money and lawyers to sue people
Conclusion:
You have power as a consumer, if you have knowledge
Eat well costs money
policy: government subsidy (paying farmers) corn
carrot (more expensive) vs chips (unhealthy is cheaper)
safety: government (FDA) not enforcing
Tobacco battle: comparison
Consumer’s Buy from companies that treat: workers, animals, env.
Food kilometers: how far does your food travel before you eat
buy locally: food travels less far (less damage)
takepart.com/food