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'Food
Inc.' exposes dangers
of food supply |
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By STEVEN
SNYDER
- TimeOut Film Critic
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November 6,
2009 |
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At the center of "Food
Inc." is a shocking – and haunting – scene that
captures in an instant just how out of balance our food supply
has become.
A family goes to a fast food restaurant and peruses the dollar
menu. They then take that same pile of cash to a grocery store,
wandering through the produce in a state of disillusionment.
Why are the burgers, fries and soda pop so cheap while the
organic produce is so expensive? In this one question, all the
issues are thrown into stark relief: The subsidizing of our corn
industry, the tilting of our diet towards unhealthy options, and
the depressing truth that the poor in this country are doomed to
an unhealthy lifestyle. If you want to eat healthy in 2009
America, you can’t be poor.
Portions of "Food Inc." have a familiar aftertaste,
recognizable asides in an otherwise blistering expose of the
chemical, industrial and economic underpinnings of the global
food supply.
These segments pertaining to fast food – involving inhumane
animal treatment, abysmal nutritional value and questionable
employee relations – have already come to light in far more
vivid detail on the pages of Eric Schlosser’s "Fast Food
Nation."
But what Food Inc. lacks in revelation, it more than makes up
for in intellectual rigor. The weight of Robert Kenner’s
documentary, showing Wednesday night at the Union Theatre, stems
from its comprehensive approach: A full-fledged analysis of
systematic decay, pointing to a food industry stretched to the
breaking point.
Joined by a cadre of journalists and activists, Kenner dissects
the vertical integration occurring within the food industry,
methodically navigating through such controversies as
nutritional diversity, labor standards and farmland economics.
A cornerstone of the discussion involves factory farms (though
Kenner’s cameras are never allowed into the buildings housing
livestock), as Kenner links inhumane living conditions in these
mega-farms to a surge in foodborne illnesses.
At independent farms, meanwhile, the issue is increasingly
becoming autonomy, as companies like Monsanto have taken to
patenting soybean seeds, regulating access and thereby
redefining the economics of the family farm.
Following the food from farmland to factory, another set of
issues arises. Food processors have started exploiting illegal
labor, turning to hourly workers who refuse to complain about
unsafe working conditions, resulting in a good amount of tainted
food reaching the grocery store.
Similarly distressing, when defective products are routinely
discovered and recalled, "Food Inc." chronicles the
ways companies turn to a batch of chemicals to solve the
problem, rather than correcting their processes. The government,
"Food Inc." claims, is not only unable to shut down
unsafe food companies, but is reluctant to mandate detailed
consumer labeling that would point to cloned, chemically altered
or geneticallyengineered foods.
The conversation is dense, positioned to educate more than
entertain. And the conclusions are compelling. "Food
Inc." argues persuasively that this current system of
crops, livestock, processing, shipping and infection is
unsustainable – if not broken entirely.
For all those who have already been nudged into questioning the
origins, preparation and protection of their food supply,
"Food Inc." is a devastating reinforcement of the fear
that the consumer is being misinformed, if not misled, about the
food we are putting on the dinner table.
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