The Eco Film on Friday, January 1st:
Food, Inc.
Won 3 Awards for Best Documentary
Genre: Documentary. Director: Robert Kenner. USA, 2009. 94 minutes
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on the American food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the consumer with the consent of the government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. The nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers, and the environment. They have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but they also have new strains of e coli–the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. They are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults. Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma), along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farm’s Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms’ Joe Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising — and often shocking truths — about what Americans eat, how it’s produced, who they have become as a nation, and where they are going from here.