Food, Inc.
Perhaps the definitive cinematic investigation of the modern American food industry, the Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc. exposes a system rife with corruptive, secretive and abusive practices, and whose products contribute to the rising epidemic of obesity and all the deadly diseases that result.
The reality of agriculture in America is no longer the romantic farmer with the white picket fence and the sputtering tractor. Food production has become entirely corporatized, and it operates with limited regulations and absolute impunity. The demands of mass production have led to disastrously diminished quality standards, and have placed the health of all consumers in peril.
For the most part, the farmers themselves remain hesitant to speak out in fear of the overly litigious corporations that employ them. But in one of the film's most revealing segments, a chicken farmer does comes forward, and sheds light on some of the most egregious demands placed upon her by the industry. Her coops are overcrowded with forcibly fattened chickens who exist in extremely unsanitary conditions. Many of them are sick, and have developed immunity to their steady diet of antibiotics. The industry utilizes a cheap labor force, much of which consists of illegal immigrants, to load and transport the chickens.
From grain to poultry to vegetables, less than a handful of companies control the production of the foods we eat. Their too-big-to-fail monopoly comes at a disastrous price. The film delves into big agriculture's operational practices, reliance on dangerous pesticides and other chemicals, cost-cutting measures, unprecedented legal and political lobbying power, and insidious marketing tactics. Industry insiders and assorted food advocates testify to the changing nature of food consumption. We're also presented with the intimate stories of several ordinary citizens who have suffered under the industry's reign, including a grieving mother whose son died after eating a hamburger infected with E. coli.
The filmmakers don't let consumers off the hook, however. After all, the industry is only responding to the public's insatiable cravings for more food at cheaper costs. Many aren't aware of the consequences exposed in the film. That's just one reason why Food, Inc. is required viewing.
Directed by: Robert Kenner
I watch my hip when eating.
What's eerie how this food standard in this film, reflects Codex Alimentarius, a global food standard. Codex was implemented into the U.S. Food Safety laws just a few years ago. In my opinion, it's important to reduce consumption of toxic foods, but it takes eliminating certain foods from your diet, and increasing nutrition (which is severely lacking). After watching this movie, I didn't eat meat for a month. What i found, that by the time i started eating meat again, my body would reject industrialized meats. Look for labels: Grass Fed Beef, Hormone free chickens, eggs and milk. Corn corn, everywhere gmo corn - which heavily used in our food system. For me it meant cooking meals from scratch, reducing meat intake and increasing produce consumption. Due to financial restrictions, sadly, it is like 'pick your poison' at times now. :(
Now with Monsanto at the helm of the FDA, i guarantee those standards are worse, than since this movie was made. Find safe seeds (heirloom), find farmers markets in your area, grow your own food. Sorry so long, watching this film was a rude awakening for me, but in the end - it forced me to eat differently, for me and my family's sake and we are healthier because of it.
This video helped me understand just how controlling the food industry is. It was very impactful and made me want to change. That the food industry could have so much control over everything and how ruthless they are against anyone who speaks out. We are really blind to what we eat and whats in our food. This video really opens my eyes.
Does anyone know all the different names that has corn that is modified. After watching this and connecting my own sons ecoli scare, and how it all connects to CORN. I do not want my family to eat anything that had corn.
I used to eat two burgers a week, i can barely stand to look at them now!
Amazing work, thank you so very much!
this movie changed my entire life style. i love it, a must see!
I will not trust the corporations that tell me that nitrites and phosphates are not harmful when used as a preservative. Forget trying to convince me I will not hear or read what you say or write. Phosphates were removed from soap detergents four decades ago because city water systems could not remove them from drinking water. Phosphates and nitrites are a source of free radicals in the human body. I think that I will cut my own lunch meat. I will boycott Stauffers, Nestles' and Marie Calendar for the phosphates they put in food.
The food industry can complain until the end of time, I will not read or listen to any evidence that some m*ron who writes or says that nitrites or phosphates are in small and non-harmful amounts as preservatives. I will never except that statement as an honest evaluation, if I have to become a vegetarian. I will not hear you. I will not trust you. I will not purchase your product. The truth in labeling laws will be altered soon, you can bet your life on it. The food industry is too rich to tell the truth. I am not a political liberal. I do not trust corporations.
Where to begin? How about acknowledging that we all need to take a closer look at 'where' we buy our food. Where I live in New England we have access to an increasing number of local growers and farmers for both meat and produce.
I'm not against vegetarians. Each to his own. However you might want to open your mind and read NY Times author Gary Taubes: "Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It."
He goes to great lengths exposing a number of food myths, including the fact that the food pyramid is completely wrong. But he uses science to reveal why the FDA and USDA have it all wrong.
Americans eat WAY TOO MUCH SUGAR & WAY TOO MANY CARBS> We also have the highest obesity and cancer rates. We eat far too little protein and fat. That's right. The FDA has convinced Americans that every package screaming 'FatFree' equates to healthy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Diabetes is another disease that we Americans have a strangle hold on. As do other cultures who eat a similar diet to ours..better known as a 'western' diet....
The best thing about Taubes book is the science is irrefutable. In other words it's not just his opinion, or the opinion of some fad diet doctor. His conclusions come from studying the science... something the FDA knows little about..or chooses to ignore.
Homo Sapiens have been roaming the earth for over a 100,000 years. During that period. For all but the last 100 years, Man has been a MEAT eater. Our bodies have evolved to function best eating a high protein, high fat diet. People in cold weather climates didn't have access to warm weather fruits or vegetables..but they did have access to meat, fish and fowl.
But don't take my word for it. Read Taubes book and see if you can refute what he scientifically shows to be true. If after reading his book you still want to eat only vegetables...good for you. But as an active, healthy and fit 60 year old, I'll keep eating my grass fed protein and fat.
I don't understand. Are you saying that in order to be healthy and trim humans must eat a low carb, high fat and high protein diet? Most americans have an overabundance of fat in their diet as well as large amounts of protein and yet they are overweight.
Instead of blaming obesity on carbs, maybe you should focus more on processed foods. One can be healthy and lean by eating plenty of carbs as long as they come from whole food sources.
Documentary Addict has full version.
thanks man,
have been searching for it a long time
Just a heads up that this movie is now available streaming on Netflix. I'd rather watch it through TDC of course, but this film is important enough that I want to encourage everyone to watch it.
I was a vegetarian before I saw this video and yet I am still soooo thankful for a video like this to exist. I have made it my business to spread the information I have learned with any and everyone. I find it sad and confusing to think about how little control I have over how the FDA regulates what can and cannot be sold/ eaten by the public. America is said to be the land of the free...if this is so I would love to show this documentary on the sides of buildings, in schools, and clips inbetween McDonald's commercials and then vote on the laws that regulate the food indusrtry. I am not saying that all people should stop eating meat, it would just be nice to see the public ask more questions about where it comes from and push for more affordable organic options. I truly believe that this documentary saved lives and for having the courage to make it I want to say thank you.
GO VEGAN, end of story
Honeslty, grassfed organic beef is the best thing for you. I say don't go vegan, go responsible - and if you do go vegan, be aware that 90% of soybeans and soy products are genetically modified and are therefore bad for you.
Why is genetically modified food bad for you? Genetically modified foods can simply be hybrids, such as the sweet corn I planted in my backyard the last year.
They are genetically modified to be resistant to pesticides. So they can use a bunch of Roundup on them and they won't die. So then your food has a bunch of pesticide in it
Thank you all for putting up an amazing film!
My name is Clarion - I go by many names for different fields of life, but for film-making, I like to ring true with new ways of accomplishing tasks - I filmwalk like a pro from doing Qi Gong...
Call me on team for next features up!
Peace be, I'm a dude who can fly with it - in humor I like to roll the beats backward and forward, beatbox while I work even sometimes - make music videos all from scratch of nothing at all, or everything at once.
Freestyle my lyrics and go on & on on the dancefloor of life, making cinema all the while. Here I be for it - call me on team to make romance of films, together with the universe of us all making teamwork occur - I'll show you how I work, put things together fast.
Keep it in motion with the Qi Gong level of Cinema, arts of the world combined into one ritual of life, making happenings converge - call me on for cinema basics of mastery from a new profound movement - discourse of arts combined... I'll show you how I work, again I say it - I'm a dude who can roll films all night and not get tired, Qi Gong wunderkind I be - making art out of everything I see in front of my eyes - I hold to on it and pull forward with new feet maneuvers, keep it coming on page with the universe to get guidance and do things backwards and forwards a bit differently with the timing on things - here we be for more later... Peace!
why is this site not showing the entire documentary? it is available for free on other sites...and people need to see it. Why are you showing just the trailer???
Watched the film on PBS last night, very frighting.
Does anybody know how that Hog killing machine works ? It looks like a trash compactor
It's not a hog killing machine, it is a safe way for the workers to herd the hogs down the alley when they are first unloaded so the workers are not trampled of sustain other injuries. The film cut out a lot of scenes so no one saw about an hour of what goes on from that point to seeing them stunned, not dead..
So i wonder why its called the "Kill Floor"....
You are wrong. Look it up. It is a giant trash compactor
that squeezes the air out of their lungs, collapsing them. I was in an
industrial accident and have suffered a collapsed lung: very painful: but who
cares: What’s for dinner.
I saw this full dvd as a college student in Ireland only too look at the history of food and how it has changed in the last couple of years... I'm horrified!
The standard of care in slaughter houses is so bad that if that was in Ireland, the place would have already closed down, heavy fines and even criminal charges due to incompetence and total disregard for human life. When people... especially children end up with food poisoning because of something so small all that meat is recalled in the next couple of weeks if not the week of the occurring incident.
There is a vet to make sure that the animals can walk properly, that they are healthy and clean as they come into the slaughter houses. Weekly visits from the Health officers and sanitized (not just clean) equipment in all areas is pretty much basic.
We can trace our meat and in fact most whole organic foods back to the farm it came from because its printed and recorded down by the supermarkets.
It's kind of ironic when you think that we took our standards from NASA and adapted it to the food industry, isn't NASA based in America?
omg that sounds amazing!!! yes Americans are definitely behind Europeans when it comes to environmental issues! I hope one day Americans can have standards like that!
Much love Kaspar. I've been wanting to see this badly... Thanks for keeping the information flowing. Believe me, it's much needed when people become so disassociated from the source of their food as we, the "modern" society have.
After I saw the movie, I could not eat any meat for 3 weeks...after 6 months I'm sort of back to "normal"...I think, we should see this movie every 3 months....
I agree! I didn't cut out meat, but I did buy 1/4 cow that was hormone and antibiotic free from a local farmer.
I realized it was time to watch Food Inc. again after I no longer felt the urge to vomit walking by the bags of frozen Tyson "chicken"
God same here! After watching this when it first came out, my love for chicken just turned right around... And then I saw it again 3 years later and now I am just SO glad my dad gets cow that isnt processed.
And suddenly all the food that I would generally beg for now seems very unappetizing...
Tha documentary FOOD.INC was on detroit public late last night. What an amazing documentary. This should be on at a time suitable to the mass being able to view it, if it has not already. Kudos to the entire crew for producing such a powerful documentary making so many facts public. I was horrified at what is going down by all parties involved. Keep up the excellent work and hopefully you will have the same effect on others as you did on me. Thank you for your dedication, your honesty, your loyalty to mankind. Unfortunately businesses control government throughout the world and it will be the demise of the human race. Bin Laden is not the major concern we north americans think he is. Our own government is allowing our businesses to destroy us a bit at a time!!!!!
Hi Kimesenko! i watched the program on Detroit Public last night as well. i worked a late shift and caught it after i got home, wishing all-the-while it would be scheduled to air at a time of day when more people would see it.
i echo your thanks for the time and work involved with putting this together.
kelly
"harried workers who don’t have the time or income to read every book and eat non-genetically modified produce every day."
so is it the ideal meal for "most" or is it a matter of convenience
take away the fertilizer and technology and we can watch documentaries about starvation.
I respectfully competely disagree with you Ron. I am a mother of two and work full time as does my husband. I chose to become vegetarian a few yrs ago and have NEVER looked back. I spend around $100 week in groceries for our family and we never go hungry. In fact I am more and more proud to be veg the more documentaries I see in regards to food today. The meat that is provided today is not the same meat our ancestors had access to... look at all the health problems related to it. I would think twice about your comments about starvation...
Pesticides and herbicides should be banned, you don't need factory farms to produce all the food and minimal synthetic fertilizer along with organic fertilizer (manure) can be used, while producing the same amount of yield with regular weather while producing more that conventional crops during times of drought or floods. GMO's aren't necessary either, natural selection and nature does that for us. Research before you bash organics.
what if your two kids don't want to be vegetarians, Thats not right for you to disband it from them.
This could be the most important documentary on this site. I'm not much for conspiracy theories but this is something that has to change. We like that we can buy cheap food so we don't pay much attention to how it gets to the supermarket. I grew up on a farm and I can tell you that the family farm that I knew is almost gone in North America. Agri-business is now the new farm economy. The control of our food is quickly going into the hands of an elite few. This elite few are trying to legislate the remaining control into their hands. When they get this control they can now plan for the supply and demand market. Food availability and prices can be set artificially the same way Debeers controls diamond prices. The problem is when you use a just in time inventory system for the nations food supply you can't increase productivity by asking people to work harder and overtime when there is a crop failure or drought. You have to wait for the next crop to mature. If our seeds are owned by a corporation then we have to go to them to grow our own foods. It is a recipe for disaster.
Economies of scale make the more common food more affordable. Part of the reason those burgers corn products etc are so cheap is also due to their more common use. Like anything else, price should come down with wider adoption. Of course it's a bit of a catch 22
Sorry Jama, the reason that all of the meat and the plethora of corn-based products are so cheap is due solely to the fact that our government provides MASSIVE subsidies to farms producing corn. To the order of HUNDREDS of billions of dollars. This allows the production of corn at less than 25% of the actual cost of production....
Meat SHOULD be MUCH more expensive than it is currently. As Mark Bittman (author of Food Matters) says, "We don't need to be vegetarian necessarily, but we SHOULD be less-meat-itarians."
Please get your facts right - HUNDREDS of billions of dollars? The entire Agriculture Budget in 2008 was $94.8 billion and only $13 billion went to farm programs. What is sad is that less than 6% of the entire federal budget goes to agriculture, yet farm products generate more than 20% of the nation's income.
Ok so My question is where is the other $81.8 BILLION dollars going? Our government is partially to blame but it is our fault that we allow them to make these decisions. Doesn't anyone believe in "By the people, For the people"? It is our responsibility to stand up to the FDA and Congress and tell them to fix these problems or they will face the chopping block themselves! It's time to make a change in this country for the better of us all!
jennifer, where did you get your sourses? i would love to know more
I want to see some real solutions for people who are uneducated and poor. How am I supposed to go out and buy all of these expensive organic fruits and vegetables? Not to mention the vitamin supplements? Do you have any idea how much it costs to buy a bottle of spirulina or a bag of chia seeds?
I cant afford it and neither can a whole lot of other poor people. So tell me what am I supposed to do to stay healthy? Why is it that all of these things that are apparently so abundant are so expensive? What kind of help is it to me if i cant have it to better my health.
Bliss really is ignorance, if i wasnt aware that every single day of my life others are literally trying to limit access of nutritionally sound food to me and others, i wouldn't be so f@#$%^& enraged right now. I suggest you all watch Food Matters as well, an excellent documentary. Guess ill start having to steal to be healthy, i dont really see any other alternative.
I used to think the same thing about the cost. But I've learned that budgeting and planning ahead makes a huge difference. Also, it's been a learning process of what I need and what I don't need to buy organic. There are lists online of what foods you absolutely should get organic, and what foods you're probably okay buying conventional. Strawberries for example are at the top of the list of most toxic produce due to pesticides. So I get them organic. My husband and I saw Food Inc., freaked out and didn't know what to buy at first, so we bought everything organic or natural. But like I said, with time and research, you stop freaking out and start understanding what changes matter the most, picking up little tidbits of nutritional knowledge here and there, and applying it to our lifestyle where we can. You don't need to be rich to learn about food, nor do you need to make tons of money to plan out your meals for the week. These were the most important steps in going organic and healthy for us. Good luck!
Watson (to whom it may regard),
Well stated, though major media outlets are seldom the place for quality, complete information -- especially in times like these, the czars of these outlets will inadvertently dabble with the bias of their distributed news to fit their own ends, usually by the "Don't bite the hand of your feeder" rule.
A chief example of this is Jeffrey Zucker, who was recently fired from his position as President of NBC Universal -- though he had biases of his own, NBC Universal had 51% of its stock purchased by Comcast Corps. and gave its respective President (Stephen Burke) the chance to kick Zucker from his position. Stephen Burke is the Director of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., as well as Berkshire Hathaway, Incorporated. Burke's direct affiliation with the U.S. financial sector probably provoked him to kick Zucker from his position because under Zucker was allowed a wide-angled, hostile view toward banks and their investments -- exemplified, in fact, in many interviews with former bank directors, coordinated by none other than Tom Brokaw of NBC Nightly News. Burke's bias would and likely will lead to a lighter temperament toward banks nationwide as an effect, because Brokaw, his writers and reporters would not want to risk their employment with NBC.
Another such politically-slanted bias found in major news outlets as a reaction to this biting rule is found with media mogul Rupert Murdoch. FOX News (and a number of its subsidiaries) is owned by News Corporation, whose Chairman and CEO is capitalist czar Rupert Murdoch. Ever wonder why Glenn Beck is on FOX News? It's because he's a Conservative Christian. Ever wonder why FOX News is Conservative and pro-Christian? Because its founder and CEO is Murdoch, a Conservative Christian. This same trickle effect of bias to appease the boss is found in every major news source, from News Corporation affiliates to Viacom's.
Perhaps it was enlightening, or perhaps you haven't so much as read this far. But the underlying point to all of this is to avoid trusting such sources as Tom Brochaw. Even though it's seldom their fault, the fullness and validity of their information, as well as how they go about examining it, is profoundly biased. Instead, one might consider taking the time to shovel deeper into a relevant subject such as this for a stronger opinion on it than just the evidence of Tom Brochaw of NBC Nightly News not addressing it.
Elementary, Dear Watson,
C.S.
Alot of these comments seem to be very extreme. In order to truly understand the theses (Yes, there was more than one in the movie)of this documentary,you must remove yourself from your personal opinions and look at it for what it really is; Not how YOU think things are. I found excellent points made in the movie. It was well thought out and the rhetorical devices used to convey the theses were well used.
However, the call to action at the end of the movie seemed to lack something. It seems to me, the only solution they gave was to buy organic yogart and shop exclusively at farmers markets and Trader Joe's.(A bit of a hypocritical statement in regards to my 1st paragraph, I appologize)
I would also like to adress the fact that if you really have a passion for changing the way our nation packages food, you also will understand that it cannot be done over night. You saw the video! Look at all the machinery. Look at all the poor people clinging to those terrible jobs because it is what ensures that their children will have something in their stomachs when they go to bed. There are major positive and negative outcomes to ending the way our food is processed.
To those of you who believe that organic food is killing the Earth; That was the first time I have ever heard that theory. If it was really THAT big of a deal, I think we would be hearing more about it. You know why you dont see Tom Brochaw on the new reporting how veggies are killing the earth? Because that is BS.
In my personal opinion, I dont think anybody in Washington is going to give a rip about any of this until too many innocent people have died. Maybe it'll take more than that. All I know is that sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better; sadly.
I know I violated my opening statement. Sorry about that.
Do I still want to watch this after reading the comments? No. Am I going to? Yes. Wish me luck.
hey everyone i can honestly say that the movie food inc has change my prospective on the food industry for ever. this movie is amazing watch it and tell all your friends to also!!
Ok, I read Rajan's second post about choking on a huge sausage. You, sir, are awesome.
"I personally love eating meat though. I really want to stop eating meat but its hard considering meat is everywhere around us. I love putting meat in my mouth and thats the way it is. I will try to stop eating meat." - Rajan Kauldhar
I'm sorry. I'm so immature, but that was the funniest thing I've ever read.
This film is awesome and about so much more than can be said in words and about so much more than just food and farmers even though that is the focus. It relates to many attitudes and practices that need to be known and better examined and understood and changed and that relate to ALL aspects of our lives and relationships, but that each one individually must see for themselves what that is. And if one does want to know what can be done...it was not needed to be covered in the film...it is more dealt with in websites and other sources by people who saw the film as well as the simplest and most important message anyone can get and do which is to stop supporting the practices that are undersireable in the production of food by knowing what companies are doing them and buy instead from local sources, grow your own food and if possible raise your own animals and live where and how you can do that. Otherwise learn and live where you can acquire it from those who do. period.
All the discussion about meat here is just one point among many others and a bigger picture is revealed in this film than to get hung up on just that. It even helps to see the film a number of times as there is so much that is often missed at first that is vital in making decisions about what you eat and what you support or don't support and why.
Whether it may benefit someone to eat or not eat meat...There are many many interesting truths about the importance of meat to a human body and that it isn't protein per say, as it is there are certain types of protein that have certain affects on DNA and tissue and muscle of animal for man that vegetable protein just doesn't...tho the amount of protein may not be so important. However, every body digests and metabolizes food and stores food and utilizes the energy from food differently; even attitudes and thoughts conscious and unconscious, about food affect that. So there are as many factors for supporting the eating of meat as there are reasons for eliminating it and being a vegetarian. I have done each for many years and with alot of study to know this and won't go into the specifics here and now for that is an individual choice to make, based on more than one person's research or opinion or experience or THEIR state of health. The real issue here is IF you choose to include meat in your diet (and i was very healthy with or without it, yet found something out many years after a vegetarian diet that is not well known, that saved my life going back to meat, but being very smart about WHAT meat, how much and how it was grown/cared for and packaged, etc..) As i was saying the issue is that IF you choose meat, it may be wise to consider to just eat meat from a local grass fed cow farm and one where the cows/animals are not caged, are loved, have room to wander/live and be clean and well fed and good water, but not given what makes them ill...period. And if there are none where you live, find some, or move. Support farmers that do treat animals kindly and wisely, be informed who they are and to investigate yourself as was shown in the film these kind of farmers do exist. Do not support the horrible and corrupt factory farms. Period. No need to argue over whether or not to be a vegetarian or meat eater. That is a choice every one has a right to make for themself and investigate as they see fit for themselves and/or experiment with.
This is an extremely well made film. REvealing what it does in ways words just wouldn't do. Many people i know that saw it changed a lot of things almost immediately, that they never would have even with what they knew befoer the movie. That is how important it is sometimes to SEE something not just be told about it. Things i used to rationalize and reason were okay, i just can't even bring myself to do now. That is a successful presentation of information that the information alone and how it was presented did affect change, immediately and in significant ways.
The film not only shows things as they really are that need to be seen and should be by everyone, but it did so in a wonderful way to learn what we don't know and to see better what we think we know...without high drama but yet fast moving, interesting scenes and dialogues with fabulous intention and film making that was artistically creative and very provocative without being over dramatic...just show what is as it is but was hidden from us prior. It makes us ponder and evaluate our interest and choices in ways we never thought to before. And best of all, even if we watch something potentially rather depressing and shocking , it is so well supported by scenes that take us to other realities and possibilities rather than dwell on the undesireable, or drum it in to us and leave us feeling like we were stupid or/and powerless, It reveals these things in ways that it empowers us, not in ways that leave us feeling victimized and depressed as we might feel just from reading about or being told of these conditions and practices of food producing companies. It is a revelatory experience and one that you can be happy for having and for learning and knowing what you can do after seeing it...even if at first it is shocking and sad to see some things that are going on.. The film does more than just suggest there are other options that already exist and more that can be put in place and suported. IT INSPIRES. The evidence of THAT is clearly revealed in watching the reactions of an entire audience when it is shown in a theatre...as well as checking out the websites that came up after the film that people plugged into and already made important changes in their lives as they were moved and encouraged to by the film.
That is taking our power back, realizing we supported and even created (BY OUR OWN NEEDS AND DEMANDS FOR A FAST LIFE AND A FAST FOOD AND OTHER CONTRIBUTING factors that we don't realize the impact they have on the rest of our lives and the people and creatures in our lives) all along what we weren't informed or ignorantly contributing to...and WE can turn it around....and it doesn't take a war or an all out attack on anyone or anything ...just making choices that are more informed and wise about what we do with our own energy be it , money, labor, time, and what we accept in return. Just learning from our past choices and seeing the impact is enough and does not imply we need to argue, instill guilt, feel guilt, defend or judge our choices..just learn from them and change...
Check out the food inc website for more information on what people have done and what you can do and what has been accomplished. It is inspiring as was the film to me and a lot of others i have talked to.
Our local theatre agreed to show it in our town, that is something you may look into as well. Invite all your friends, colleagues, coworkers, teachers, neighbors, parents, business owners, local farmers, etc. and see what comes of THAT. If a theatre owner/manager is not too keen on it ...just ask them to feature it just one day at an odd time...like a Sat morning. Then tell everyone you know to tell everyone they know to come. If there is a big turnout the theatre manager may want to show it again and if not i don't think it is a loss to them to show it one time.
That could lead to more support for farms and farmers markets locally and support even coming from some local big businesses who want good safe food. Some people may meet to keep some kind of promotion of this kind of info going out to schools, school officials, politicians, etc. and even form a food coop if you don't already have one in your area...where the best food can be made available. our local food coop which is owned by the people locally has a huge profitable income and grows alot every year....more than most any business and it keeps the prices down as well and it works or the staff do to find the healthiest foods but without some CEO taking home huge salaries so everyone ...the buyer and the coop owners win.
Local farmers markets may well replace big company stores and may be a wise move when otherwise not only for the health and safety reasons but other potential occurances that could leave us without access to transportation of foods from far away sources anyway, could warrant a local supply all year... or due to an even more vast and serious epidemic of food bourne illness that none are available for a time nor would you want to risk eating them...if you aren't where there are local healthy food sources in place...you could be unable to feed yourself at all.
I had no intention to make such a long commentary here...but after reading all the comments up and back about meat ....when this is such a bigger picture to be looking at here...and then if feel the impulse to be actively involved in some way to affect change...even if as i said before if only in your own daily choices, i just felt urge to address that and i maybe got carried away in saying way too much more than was needed or useful...Forgive my verboseness if so and just enjoy the movie and the afteraffect, and i am sure you WILL as it is so well done it is difficult not to love watching it...except for some maybe a scene here and there, but still for the most part everyone i spoke to, loved it and wanted to see it again.
thanx for having it on this site.
I disagree with the comparison of organic vegetable farming with industrial cattle or animal production. why not compare corn production with back yard hens. clearly back yard hens are more sustainable so then we should all give up eating produce. get the point. Where do you think the fertilizer comes from for organic. Usually animals. I feel we need a diversified food system, locally based. yes we do eat too much meat but if you look at early colonialism when they had to produce what they ate it was a large garden with a few animals. If you want to be a veg go for it im not knocking it. I think its great, but if you think your holy for your choice your full of compost. And your misinformed. the healthiest the human population has ever been was as a hunter gather combining meat with a large diversity of foraged food stuff. As soon as we settled into an agrarian society we have been degrading our land base, depleting soils and directly diminishing our health. If you really want to make a difference only eat from systems of permanent agriculture. Perennial based systems integrated with efficient producers of meat such as rabbit fish and chicken. That is only my opinion so save me your holier than now cermets. Do as you wish we are all going to hell in a hand bag but at least I have a chance of riding out the crash.
you are severely misinformed. Organic methods replenish nutrients in the soil. raising cattle for the meat industry is causing deforestation. It takes 100 times more land to raise feed for cattle for the beef industry than vegetarian food for humans.
Randy and Charles. You both have a lot to learn
Dr. Randy! You learned me somthin' you did! That was interesting. I knew that organic food was harder on the environment then conventional veggies (they take more land to grow), but I hadn't thought of things as you showed. Thank you for that insight. Everything in moderation is the key.
Oh yes! No I member . . . in China, I had the stupidity to ask my friend why they catch the human poop in the little buckets in his hometown. He just didn't tell me, but showed me how they use it to "fertilize" the fields with it. They dump it all in a big pit, add water, stir until sloshy and then take a bucket full out to the lattage and cucumbers! rarely do I ever want to vomit, but that was petty gross. Human poo is the worst possible fertilizer there is, isn't it?
But, fortunately, no salads. We always cooked even the veggies and for very good reason I now knew. I never had a salad in China. :-(
Korea? Ok! Yum yum! I hope.
Oh, here is an interesting stat:
There are more "food borne infections" from vegetables than from meat. In my area, two or three spinach outbreaks a month.
Yes.
Think about it. Meat is more often cooked than vegetables, yes? Do you eat eat raw meat? Do you eat raw veg?
Veg can suck up the human waste from field workers and even washing in bleach can't get the salmonella or ecoli out...
Cooking meat will kill microbial organisms. That's just science. The 140 degree rule.
Also, I will say this to all you vegetarian hippies, (gosh I hate hippies...):
Listen, as vegetarians you are destroying more of the planet and more of the animal species of the Earth than people who eat domesticated cows, chickens, pigs, and etc...
These animals we eat were specifically designed to feed us. Through hundreds of thousands of years of selective breeding. None of them existed in the wild.
Your veggies, destroy whole countries of land masses to make thousands of acres of lettuce. Do you think no wild animals were slaughtered to make that lettuce garden?
Potatos?
Tomatoes?
Cukes...? Etc...
Do you think that nature intended for thousands of acres of lettuce, (etc.) to be all growing in one place? No. That is an abberation of Nature. A deformity. It is called a "Uni-Culture" It is wrong. And nature tries to destroy it, but humans struggle to keep those acres of lettuce alive with chemicals because that is the only way we can.
That means pollution.
All because you want to be a vegetarian. Good Job!
Enjoy your salad. But don't try to guilt me. I think my job is to eat the entire world. As every animal thinks... if you don't... then you end up in my lunchbox, I guess.
hmmmm...its doesn't sound like u watched that movie at all!!!
Yes, the best beef is grass fed. Corn is no good for cows.
'Course, in a few hundred years, cows will adapt and corn will be GOOD for them.
That's how life works.
I will close with the words of Dr. Temple Grandin, "Of course, we have to eat animals for food, but we don't have to be cruel about it!"
I used to know someone in london called anna bastida
A MUST SEE documentary for all Americans. Go Vegetarian, Organic, and Local. What is capitalism creating? The sickest population in the world. Children with out nutrients for propper brain function become a crop for the big business of the pharmacutical industry and prisons.
I was very disheartened when I looked up the "organic" beef company that makes the beef I have been using. They still feed their cows corn! I will never buy from them again and now I have to go back on the search for a beef company that is smart enough not to infect their cows with ecoli and kill them simply be feeding them the wrong food! By the way, I am feeling pretty bad this morning after eating their ground beef last night. I am wondering if it's because of their product...
There are some very good comments on this thread but this one from Irene wins my comment of the week prize.
'I have a problem with Eric. He obviously has passion on this subject, but he uses so many commas that I have a hard time following his thoughts.'
Where is the full video ???????
any link plzzzz
thanks
Hope that was my wake up call!
hey!
i can only see the preview...is the complete video available?
thanks
To Steve I would say: Why would anyone trust what the government agencies are telling us? They are the ones who are pushing unhealthy food into the mouths of school children and enforcing the regulations to do so.
When Echinacea was found to aid in the recovery from the comon cold, didn't the FDA come out with a study to rebuke it? Of course--it might be something you don't need from a pharmaceutical company--so they did a study that denied its benefits. I read that poonderous study and found that they did not use the right dosages--of course it didn't work. They don't want us to know that nature has provided for us the materials to be healthy--they want us to depend on the companies that pay off the government agencies: the drug companies.
I have a problem with Eric. He obviously has passion on this subject, but he uses so many commas that I have a hard time following his thoughts. Please be clear and make all of this understandable for those who need it most. When you are talking about plain food please use plain English. I am dealing day to day with parents and children who would like to do better, but where do they start? How about homemade tomato sauce on plain pasta with some garlic bread and a salad that is not topped off with hydrogenated "salad dressing"? At $3 and more a bottle for this concoction try vinegar and oil with some herbs and you will get really fresh tastes.
how do I actually watch the full-length feature?
When the timer says I watched 72 mins, I just usually hit refresh and hit play and I can continue :)
It was not easy for me to watch the 'better' chicken factory. It's creepy that the 'bad' chicken factory doesn't let their chickens see the light of day...ever. The pigs' killer elevator was horrible too. The cows waist deep in their fesis...not too great either. I'm having fish tonight. Yeah it's probably farm raised and injected with fake coloring...ugh.
love your post BMC :-)
AS was repeated in the wonderful Food Inc. documentary more than once. Vote with your wallets and with your behaviour in buying food. The public needs a great deal of education on how to buy better food for a decent price. The family eating the $1 cheeseburgers needed to know what they can buy and how far it can stretch for healthy eating at home, not to mention the amount of money saved each month without expensive diabetic meds. Now I think another giant business that needs this kind of documentary, Michael Moore's was not enough, is the insurance industry. Not as obvious, but the abuse to the customers, the providers to fuel the never ending need of the giants of industry and their stockholdersto make more and more money is alarmingly similiar.
So what can we do? Or eat steak rather than a hamburger (which can come from 1,000 different cows)? Or is organic meat the answer? Does that guarantee growth hormone free, antibiotic free -- or are there organic antibiotics? I'm serious. Or do we need to look for "grass-fed" and "free-range" to ensure animals are raised fairly, and fed their nature-intended diet (instead of dead chickens)? And how can we trust that when Tyson just admitted to falsely claiming some of those? Or switch to goat milk & lamb because those animals are not yet mass-farmed in "factories" plus often imported (from New Zealand)? Or just go vegan? But what about even organic, vegan food that's genetically engineered?
***Why the video is not up***
*Oprah* aired a show all about Food Inc with Michael Pollan and others to share with her viewers the concepts relating to the agro food business and the dangers of not knowing where our food comes from.
I am sure that after the media exposure last week; they have asked Vlatko to take it down.
It has been removed due to copyright infringement.
Where's the documentary?
This video was free a week or so ago on this website. I watched half of it and now it's only for sale. This film has an important message for our planet that should be shared for free. It should not be a commodity.
I think this was a well encompassing doc. It hit the key points but their are plenty of docs. out their which will go further into the specifics of each topic. i.e. king corn. But very happy with the overall coverage. Also this idea of cheap food as a right. It is what keeps us alive. I raise animals and after my financial inputs I could buy it cheaper at the store. Economy of scale plays into it but it is mainly what they feed and how well they pay the workers. Be happy if the cows you are eating only eat corn, which causes an increased ph in the rumen (cows should have a more alkaline ph that would other wise stop the spread of cow ecoli ) which has lead to the ecoli making a jump to us. It is very possible your cows are eating poultry manure or cardboard. You get what you pay for and "food" is not cheap. Please raise you own you will see. And meat is always the target. Grass based faring is efficient. Also studies you find on how unhealthy meat is is more than likely done on factory farmed meat. The most healthy the human body has ever been was based on a diverse hunter gatherer diet. They have excavated burial mound of american civilizations and the more they got into agriculture the worse their health was. I watched a doc. on the history channel that gave the best solution to all the environmental problems we have. It was on the world if humans vanished. Their are way too many people. Please stop breading. The ida of the human foot print is off base, we can not live on 1 acre and we do not have 3 planets. If you want a better planet for your kids have only one and tax the hell out of every one after that. Buy from your community and not just food.
Could someone please tell me what is wrong with eating GMO corn and soybeans? How could it affect your health ?
Thanks
I'm def going organic. Lord help us.
I too am a vegitarian. I find that most intelligent people who question the safety of things are. I cant tell you how many people i work with /in my family and just my friends always comment about my energy and raidiance. I am an extremely productive human being. I rarely get sick. I rarely feel tired.. in fact i sleep about 4 or five hours pr day. I never take medications only vitamins and herbal remedies.I am not saying you should be like me.. what im saying is that people get sick because they refuse to learn to eat right..than complain about not being able to loose weight or being sick.. They go on fad diets. They over eat. They eat all junk. I have a friend that never eats vegitables. Ever. They take diet pills..And the answer is simple..Food is fuel. Just like your car.. if u put bad gasoline your engine it will break down quicker and be harder to repair.. and it never really runs right to begin with. People need to start taking personal responsibility for their health. I cant stand the excuses. I have a child in the home. I grow my own home organic garden and am getting into solar energy and hydro growing. I am concerned also about the toxins in the water. The reason that lady's son was not allowed to DRINK WATER IS BECAUSE OUR WATER IS FLOURIDATED AND IT KILLS PEOPLE WITH KIDNEY PROBLEMS> but most people dont pay attention to that either. They trust their tap water and their store bought food. I dont want to live forever. I want to be healthy. I want the people I love to live a happy healthy life and you cant do that without clean and good nutritional food in your system. I also work fulltime and have several other hobbies. So there are no excuses i will give you for not having time to pay attention to what goes into my body.. i only hope more people wake up to the fact that these companies dont care about them.. only their money.
Joe, most of the soy and corn we grow goes to livestock. That is enough to feed the world's poor and significantly decrease the costs of non animal foods at the grocery store. When demand decreases so does price. Since we feed animals the food we should be eating, we miss out in many ways. Don't forget about the rainforrests being wiped out either. What a travesty.Who can be held accountable? The consumer have to vote by what they buy. Political officials are obligated to tell people these things but instead say whatever people want to hear. So we have a lot of obese, uneducated people and it couldn't be easier for the politicians all they have to think about is the dumb issues and they get to keep their jobs. Telling people the truth is a great start.
When people only care about profits, the corporate ceo monsters will go into tunnel vision. After a while they gain enough wealth to never have to do things the right way again. The way to making things right is to change your own mindframe and every day decisions. Its obvious that people can't rely on publicly appointed officials to have any sort of sould or intellect.
Thank you for this. I'm glad that you have made this available in its entirety, and whether that means watching it across one day or two....to have it accessible is wonderful!
this is probably in the top 3 of documentaries I have ever seen and that are on this website. if you are wondering whether or not to watch this, you will not be disappointed if you do. this was great. great graphics, great interviews, tons of info, with great production. i'm in love, and i'm changed forever. seriously!
Hi everybody.
I just watched the video for the second time around. This time I had a sausage in my mouth and I started choking on it because it went too deep.
I am a bondu activist.
Thank you
Hi Tam,
First remember where you left off. The time stamp! Then hit the bacward button that will take you from the previous page you visited and then go hit the forward button which will take you back to the Food.Inc page where you were watching the film. You can watch the film again but forward it where you left off. You might have to do this several times.
Let me know if it works.
Enjoy the movie. I enjoyed it very much!!!
=)
Hi!
I only watch about two minutes of this before it kicked me out saying I had watch 72.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
wow what an eye opener.. soy beans? who would have thought.. I really feel sorry for those hard working farmers who are fighting against big corporations..
This was an eye opening video. I personally love eating meat though. I really want to stop eating meat but its hard considering meat is everywhere around us. I love putting meat in my mouth and thats the way it is. I will try to stop eating meat.
Thanks to the uploader of this video.
I am also a bondu activisit.
Thanks Ron, I appreciate that.
This was good. I wouldn't say it was the best on the topic. I would've like to see more on how to affect change. In addition, I think communicating how unhealthy the food Americans eat is extremely important. The problem is most Americans do not see a problem with the way they eat. They do not know what is good for them, and how bad meat and processed foods are. The movie had a lot of information, but I don't think it was enough to motivate anyone to do anything differently.
Watch Species, if you want to stop eating meat.
What a great documentary! One thing that it should have covered more is GMOs and how it's an epidemic. They overtake regular crop which forces farmers and governments to adopt policies to legalize them. Also it should have talked about how many foods that are labeled organic aren't really organic. Many big companies label shitty food as organic because the FDA requirements to be recognized as organic are of such low standard. It's true that many products aren't really organic that are labeled so but it's also true that there's a smear campaign against real organic foods by large multinational food manufacturers.
Great doc otherwise.
right it did state that; don't take it so verbally, what is analysis? why is it that one continues to rely on research, and how can one not finding out conclude and say that, one at all said that serious research exist, or that there is none which is what is taking place here, which is not at all what is said, and that is a small part of my writing wouldn't you say so, to look objectively one must also be capable of looking at oneself, not just reacting, you have a brain so why don't you see whether it is possible to be aware of what is taking place in yourself and whatever knowledge you gather can come in the way of that, when there is no understanding, knowledge is always partial and without understanding has no meaning, and it is something you either accept or reject, that is an irrefutable fact
don't be upset with me
Eric:
Oh, I see. So when you said, 'serious scientists have shown that out of all the years in mankind this period of human history has seen the least amount of brain development', you really meant a load of hot air. I'm not necessarily disputing anything in your diatribe, just bringing to light this specious statement. One of my biggest pet peeves is people alleging serious research exists on a topic when nothing could be further from the truth. The world is unimaginably complex and intuition alone can often lead one astray.
Getting back on topic, this was a fantastic, eye-opening documentary. However, as always, don't mistake good intentions for good ideas, and deep analysis is needed before jumping to conclusions (ie Charles and his visions of mass famine in the US).
Kudos to Vlatko for creating this wonderful site which in turn is giving birth to a very interesting and often insightful community.
Vlatko, thank you so much for another great video. You're the best! I'm very grateful to you my friend.
-Ron
Too depressing for words. :-( Mass famine is comming to the U.S.A. as well when these methods fail.
But, if this was a Mega video, it played all the way through without stopping! :-)
Thanks, vlatko!
the reference is you, understand yourself;not implying you lack intelligence: reference in your sense also implies research, why is it that we are so quick to go to someone else to tell us what the brain is, or what we are? what does it mean when one says supposed lack of modern era brain developments? if you want we can use skype, but this is far to large of a thing to reduce to references, and research, but requires a total inquiry, investigation, not just of facts but in relationship to us all, not from any particular point of view which is what it means to be objective, don't be offended, but i think you are asking for something research is not possible of, certain things are just facts of what scientist have stated, which is that the brain has seen the least amount of progress in any period of our existence, which is partial and to conclude there is silly, but when on looks at the world, and the brutality, the violence,the organized religions dominance on public minds,and so on and when one looks at themselves not excluding anything, and not accepting, attaching themselves to any ideas or any point of view then i think it is possible to understand something differently, but that is up to each and every one of us; i hope that i have made it clear enough being that this is like a instant writing, not a conversation
Eric, care to share some references regarding this supposed lack of modern-era brain development? Pretty interested to see how brain quality is objectively measured.
also we are not talking about the size of the brain,but quality
if you really want to find out then live that way, and then you may see what its like to not get sick,have a tremendous amount of energy, no stress, not feeling lazy, the rest is speculation, analysis; and also understand that when i say a way i am not implying anything specific, like a religion, or another ideology but not consuming meat,the rest is for you to find out
good to watch, but this is not the approach, food is a part of ones life and it is a necessity excluding meat, just don't eat it and you will see what happens to the food sections in markets; or grow your own greens etc.. if you can just do whatever you can to remove the dependencies; the fact is many of you price your food like a consumer, not as a living thing that you are, which makes you responsible for what happens to yourself an anything related to the way you live, I don't eat meat, and i don't feel bad for any of you or that woman, her child is the only victim the rest of you just complain and continue to carry along, which is just another way mankind has found to kill each-other, to not eat meat is not difficult at all, and one of the reasons you eat it is actually do to the tastes of vegetable based flavoring or other non meat additives, and you don't have to be a doctor or specialist to know that, many doctors state that it is okay to eat meat sometimes, and it as fact that there are many other alternatives to protein, which you don't need a lot of anyway, and burning meat it is a reduction in nutrition which is not relative to any development of the human brain, in fact serious scientists have shown that out of all the years in mankind this period of human history has seen the least amount of brain development, and you yourselves can see the increase in brain, chemical problems,dulling, nutrition is very important and anyone who is serious can see that..... the brain has infinite capacity
I will then take my time to personally upload it somewhere else :P