Food Inc Documentary Paper

7/31/2019 Food Inc Documentary Paper

1/16


2/16

Highlights of Food Inc. Documentary Analysis of the Food Inc. Documentary


3/16

- Michael Pollan


4/16

American thought-provoking documentary filmproduced by the Participation Media and directedby the award winning director Eric Schlosser andRobert Kenner

Nominated for Best Documentary (Teays, 2012) The documentary film examines the unethical,

inhumane and unhealthy production processes ofthese commodities and its possible impact on the

consumers, environment and well as those whoare involved in the production process


5/16

1. Most people do not have an idea where the foodwe eat comes from

2. The reality is that those who produce the food weeat are more concerned about doing everythingfaster, bigger and cheaper without due regard to the

safety of the consumers. 3. Because of the demand for food, growers addchemicals to fruits and vegetables so they will ripenmuch faster

4. Planters and growers are adding chemicals to thefruits and vegetables we eat so they last longer.

5. Aside from the fertilizers fed to the grains andvegetables, they are also sprayed with pesticide toensure that they are aesthetically appealing to theconsumers.


6/16

6. With the help of growth hormones, chickens arebeing raised in half the time they were compared toseveral decades ago where they are raised for 3months.

7. Farm owners treat the livestock and poultry in their

farms in a horrifying and sickening manner; 8. Chicken farmers are saying that chickens are being

kept in dark chicken houses where there are nowindows and no direct sunlight;

9. Farm workers are also being abused by the farmowners and made to work in farms where theminimum standards of safety are not being met;

10. Farm owners fail to properly maintain their farms


7/16

11. Poultry and livestock being sold in the market such asthe chicken, pork others are being fed artificial food sothat they grow faster and become bigger, and fatter inlesser period of time;

12. The houses where the livestock are kept are notproperly maintained such that these farm animals stand on

their manure all day allowing the spread of diseases suchas E. Coli faster. 13. There is a new strain of E. coli which causes illness to

73,000 Americans and death to thousands more; 14. E. Coli can be found in the food we eat such as the

spinach and apple juice if these fruits and vegetables are

grown on farms that are near poultry and livestock 15. Food contaminated with E. Coli can kill


8/16

16. More Americans now have diabetes and heart ailments earlyin their life and this can be attributed to the food we eat 17. The government is powerless to address this problem

because the regulatory agencies themselves are controlled bythese companies running the poultry and livestock business.

18. During the Bush administration, the head of the FDA was the

former executive vice president of the National Food ProcessorsAssociation and the chief of staff of the Department ofAgriculture was the former chief lobbyist for the beef industry

19. The federal government should also be blamed because theysubsidize corporations which grow grains and soybeans resultingin the abundance of corn and soybeans which are cheap feed forlivestock.

20. The government is also spending billions to subsidize localfarms compared to the $15 million allocation for organic andlocal food.


9/16


10/16

The documentarys contention is thatcorporations in the United States are morefocused on producing cheap and abundant foodto gain more profits for these corporations evenif they are unhealthy and bad for theenvironment (Gottlieb & Joshi, 2010).

As seen in the documentary film, the industrialproduction of meat (chicken, beef and pork) andas well as grains and vegetables are done in

inhumane and unhealthy manner. By sacrificinghealth standards, the agribusiness companiesensure their profit by having low-cost produce


11/16

The documentary criticizes the governmentfor its participation in the entire food systemin making cheap but unhealthy foodaccessible and for its failure help organic and

healthy food more available for publicconsumption


12/16

The documentary film raised a good argumentwhich may possibly put consumers in a dilemmaof whether choosing what is cheap andconvenient or healthy and environment-friendly.

A large portion of the US population preferstasty, fast and low-cost foods, in other words,economical and convenient.

However, as shown in the documentary film,these products which are often considered as

convenient and economical are actually thosewhich are also unfit for human consumption andat the same time, not environment-friendly.


13/16

I also came to realization that I have a choice.Consumers have a choice. Consumers canchoose not to eat processed food. They canchoose not to eat food that come from the

farms shown in the documentary. They canchoose not to eat fast food.

We can choose to eat healthy.

We can choose to live a healthy life style.


14/16

Gottlieb, R. & Joshi, A. (2010). Food Justice.Cambridge: MIT Press.

Teays, W. (2012). Seeing the Light: ExploringEthics Through Movies. Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell.


15/16


16/16
http://www.ewritegigs.com/http://www.ewritegigs.com/

Documents

Food Inc Documentary Paper