Food, Inc.

So your diabetic, unemployed, have no health insurance and you voted for Bush? Really? He's a guy I could have a beer with. Way to go there fatso.

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Food, Inc.: How factory farming affects you

Important food for thought

Multimedia_gallery-image[1] The sobering new documentary Food, Inc. which opens in Chicago on June 19, shows the enormous hidden costs we all pay for eating cheap, factory-farmed food.

Most of us don't think much about how the food on grocery store shelves is produced, what's in it, or the impact it has on our bodies, the planet or the laborers.

And that's exactly how big agribusiness likes it, according to director Robert Kenner, who set out to "lift the veil" on the industrial food process.

Though the film is admittedly one-sided--Monsanto, Tyson, Perdue and Smithfield all declined the filmmakers access and prevented some of their growers from talking on camera--there's enough shocking undercover camera footage to make viewers start asking some important questions, such as "where does our food come from?"

Interviews with intestigative reporters and authors Eric Schlosser, ("Fast Food Nation") and Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore's Dilemma), independent farmers such as Joel Salatin (pictured above) and others, meanwhile, add context and help connect the dots.


But despite the factory-farm scenes, some of the most thought-provoking moments were these statements that were spoken or flashed on the screen. According to the filmmakers:

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In 1972, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted only 9,164.

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In 1996 when it introduced Round-Up Ready soybeans, Monsanto controlled only 2 percent of the U.S. soybean market. Now, over 90 percent of soybeans in the U.S. contain Monsanto's patented gene.
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was an attorney at Monsanto from 1976 to 1979. After his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion in a case that helped Monsanto enforce its seed patents.
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70 percent of processed foods have some genetically modified ingredient. (Genetically modified crops are not labeled in the U.S. even though 90 percent of consumers have said they want labeling.)
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1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes; Among minorities, the rate will be 1 in 2.

Listen to: Michael Pollan discuss the film with NPR's Steve Inskeep.

Read: "Why Bother?" by Michael Pollan.

Read: Patrick Goldstein's review in the Los Angeles Times

Read: 10 ways you can change your eating habits.