Food, Inc. (2009)

“You are buying the idea of a tomato.” With that Food, Inc. sets out to explore the food industry’s effects on our health and our world. Through a series of interviews and investigations director Robert Kenner removes the veil behind the politics of food and just why a McDonald’s hamburger is cheaper than the head of lettuce.

One must be vigilant with films of this nature. Often these documentaries tend to be of a sensational nature. But in Food, Inc. you will find nothing but the awful truth. Ignorance may be bliss in this instance.  Don't watch if you don't want to know. Kenner is remarkably honest and more than willing to share both sides. Only trouble is Monsanto, Smithfield, and Tyson don’t want to talk.

Amid interviews with authors Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan, we meet Tyson chicken farmers and Monsanto soybean growers who, in essence, are being bullied into producing a product cheaper and faster, but not (and often less) healthy. Making matters worse is the conflict on interest found on Capitol Hill.  Case in point: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was once an attorney for Monsanto. As a judge, he signed into effect laws which now threaten to crush local Midwestern farmers. Century farmers are being extorted and often shut down thanks to Monsanto’s genetically modified seed patents. Tyson, Perdue, Smithfield, IBP… they are all given the opportunity to refute the facts presented here, but remain silent.

Thankfully, Kenner doesn’t leave the audience in fear of the impending food apocalypse. Stoneyfield Farms and its blossoming relationship with Wal-Mart is an interesting chain of events. Wal-Mart—the Mecca of Consumerism—is listening to its customers demands. But the wisdom dispensing Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms brings a real charm to the film.

The film has many horrifying moments—the tomato just being one of them. With the holidays upon us, this viewer will be hard pressed to look at that ham without recalling the trucked in illegal immigrants (farmers that NAFTA put out of business) that now process that Smithfield ham and who might have lost his thumb during an endless work week. When he does finally get to his ‘home’, the ICE agents are there to meet him.

Food, Inc. is a provocative, disgusting expose that doesn’t preach. Rather it offers only the truth and a simple solution for affecting change. American’s corporate agribusinesses are threatening our lives and while Food, Inc. may not be a life-changing catalyst, it will nonetheless raise consumer awareness. And that is never a bad thing.