The way that our society has been able to produce food has drastically changed more in the last fifty years that in the several thousand years beforehand. Robert Kenner addresses problems of our society’s food system and how there is only a handful of large corporations that have basically taken over the food system in the United States. Large businesses have been able to significantly produce vast amounts of food and set low prices for consumers, usually because of government subsidies, which results in enormous profits and greater control of the food supply sources. This leads to negative health, safety, and economic consequences. This documentary examines the exercises of the few large food corporations from the start of production in farms and factories to the distribution in supermarkets and restaurants and also discusses the harmful effects of these practices.
The film addresses some main ethical problems of the food industry. Since the main goal for these corporations are to maximize their profit, it is in their best interest to come up with the most efficient and productive techniques to accomplish their objective. Many harmful effects are overlooked by corporations and the government in order to increase productivity and keep costs low. The details with the food itself, the animals that are produced, the workers on the assembly lines, and the actual consumers that may lead to numerous harmful effects. The film examines the industrial side of meat production by showing footage inside of the meat processing plants and describes this as ‘inhumane, economically and environmentally unsustainable’. At one point, there was a problem with the bacterial cell, E. Coli, getting into food from the unsanitary practices of the meat processing plants. Often cow and pigs would just stand in their own manure that contained E. Coli for days and this would increase the possibility of it getting into the meat that is served to customers. Some food corporations had problems with the exploitations of workers that contribute to their product. The film showed that many chicken farmers are treated poorly and dive deeper into debt by producing more and more. Companies will also target illegal foreign workers to make their products in order to cut down on costs as well.
The producers or Food, Inc. also focused on the Industrial production of grains and vegetables, especially corn and soybeans. In order to make their product cheaper for the consumer, many companies will have heavy use of petroleum-based chemicals, pesticides, and fertilizers which possibly can lead to harmful health effects. Some monopolies and oligopolies have been formed due to their successes and advancement from the pesticides they have been using, including Monsanto a soybean company that discovered a way to increase production by making their soybean resistant to the roundup they use on weeds. Due to government subsidies, corporations are able to sell corn lower than the cost of production. Since corn is cheap, is far less perishable than most foods, and has the ability to be broken for many other uses, it is extremely useful and valuable in the mass production of many varieties of food. Unfortunately, most of these foods are contributors to an unhealthy diet. New and updated technology have been a major factor in food production. If there are issues, the common theme has been to throw even more technology to fix the problem temporarily instead of diving deeper and trying to solve the issue from its root cause and this is due to short term thinking for the sake of efficiency. People also have an economic incentive to eat unhealthy since it is less expensive than eating healthy.
Some believe that they know the best way of improving the situation. Joel Salatin, is an American farmer and owns Stonyfield Farms. Salatin believes that in order to improve the situation, a company following ethical practices and can only expand up to a size that won’t lose it’s integrity. Salatin does not have a desire to join a company like Walmart because he fears the harmful effects that might come from mass production of his food. He believes that doing what is ethically right as well as having the fear of harmful effects outweighs the opportunity to make more profit. Gary Hirshberg, the former president and CEO of a yogurt company, Stonyfield Farms, believes that in order to become successful and have an impact on the world, it is necessary to join a massive company such as Walmart to help distribute the company’s product in a large scale in order to make the greatest significance and profit. Both, Joel Salatin and Gary Hirshberg’s beliefs have a place in the solution of mass food production because the most impact will occur when it is practiced on a large scale with a company like Walmart, but it is also important to find a way to also have your practices remain ethical and not harmful. A balance needs to be found between safe, ethical practices and expansion of a company.
In order to find a solution to the various issues of mass food production, there needs to be regulations put in place. Since companies make huge profits by providing cheap food, there should be a food labelling regulations set in place. Fortunately, there have already been regulations starting to be put in place and this is why companies such as Walmart are now transitioning towards foods that are healthier. The firm addresses how a woman’s son died from eating a harmful chemical in his food which resulted in a law regarding closer health and safety inspection of food called the Kevin Law. The global crisis of having only a select few companies controlling most of the food system with their mass production of food with the lack of biodiversity, it can still be affected and influenced by the customer’s demand for their products. The customers have a say in the food industry by voting with their wallet.