Entry # EC- Food Inc.

  Hello again! 

I have watched Food Inc., and there's so much to say. Let me get you caught up on what it was about. Food Inc. is a documentary about farms, crops, and production made in 2008. Eric Schlosser is an American journalist whose goal is to unveil what the food industry tries to hide from the consumer, us. We see that in supermarkets, all fruits and vegetables are always available and no longer have seasons. These foods are grown using chemicals and gases that help them grow. These chemicals are making the food more dangerous to consume. We see at supermarkets that they use logos and pictures with farms and farmers, but there are no farms. They are now factories that mass produce the products we see in the store,

These factories were made to keep up with the rapid growth of fast food, McDonald's. McDonald's would be the one to start these factories, which is to keep the uniform taste throughout the country. McDonald's would be the biggest buyer of beef and potatoes. Four other businesses also have high demands for meat. Cargill, Swift, National Beef, and Tyson, with Tyson being the biggest chicken buyer.

    Chickens are genetically modified to grow faster, nearly half the time it would take a standard chicken to grow. Not only that but they are also modified to grow bigger than the average chicken to meet the demands of these large companies. This show goes into how farmers are almost forced to sign contracts to raise their chickens and do it all over again for a set number of years. Feeding them what these companies want them to eat and also forcing farmers to keep up with upgrading their machinery to keep the contract going. Doing this drives some farmers to have to pull out loans and/or even go into debt. This forces them to have to stay in a contract to keep money coming.

    Corn is the biggest grain in demand and is used for many things such as feed, and fuel. Cows are taught to eat corn because it will fatten the cow up much quicker. Pigs and chickens are also taught to eat this for the same reason. The cost of corn is much less than it takes to grow and harvest.

    Then it gets into the soybean business for the company that made RoundUp. Monsanto has their patent soybean that is genetically modified. This soybean can contaminate surrounding soybean growers, and if caught with the patented soybean in their field and they are not in contract with Monsanto, they will face legal action. That is where Moe Parr comes in. He is able to clean soybeans from the contamination of Monsanto patent soybeans. He was accused of changing the minds of the already contracted farmers and washing their soybeans. They took him to court for this and he did lose the case.

    People can make a difference and support local farmers. Buying whole foods instead of these chemically grown foods can make a difference. Farmers can gain back their growth and the cost will make a huge difference in your health. This movie was great and went into a lot of detail about how things are being done and how farmers who were forced into this are not happy. 

    Hope this helps sum up the movie and catch your interest. Feel free to watch it and see how this affects the farmers around you. Support your farmers. Until next time, bye !