Food, Inc
About the film
Food, Inc. producer-director Robert Kenner lifts the veil on the food industry, exposing how a handful of corporations control our food supply. Though the companies try to maintain the myth that our food still comes from farms with red barns and white picket fences, our food is actually raised on massive ‘factory farms’ and processed in mega industrial plants. The system is highly productive, and consumers are spending less on food than ever before - but at what cost?
Farm animals grow fatter faster and are designed to fit the machines that slaughter them. Tomatoes are bred to be shipped without bruising in order to stay edible for months. We have bigger breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop and herbicide-resistant soybean seeds - but we also have new strains of E. coli the harmful bacteria that causes illness, we are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
The Oscar-nominated film Food, Inc. introduces us to courageous and heroic people who refuse to helplessly stand by and do nothing. It reveals surprising and often shocking truths about what we eat and how it’s produced and reminds us that despite what appears to be at times a hopeless situation, each of us still has the ability to vote on this issue every day – at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Food, Inc. - is it coming to a plate near you?
The film powerfully highlights the unintended consequences of industrial agriculture and the need to make fundamental changes to the way we farm, process, distribute, prepare and eat our food. The apocalyptic vision of Food, Inc. is based on contemporary food and farming politics in the US – so here in the UK, we’re not affected by it …are we?
Yes. Poor standards of farm animal welfare combined with over-reliance on antibiotics; pressure from government to adopt GM technologies; routine pesticide use polluting our land and water supplies; major corporations controlling our food systems - these are all features of our very own British food system and are issues the Soil Association, as the proud official charity partner to the film, are campaigning against and raising awareness about ever single day.
Food, Inc. is a foretaste of what UK food and farming will look like in ten years time, but nearly every single one of the issues highlighted in the film already has a UK equivalent today. For example:
- The vast majority of our key staple foods now come from fewer and fewer producers, processors, packers and distributors. For instance, ten carrot growers produce 80% of UK carrots, our supermarket milk comes from five major processors (soon to be four) and increasingly some major retailers are sourcing all their beef or lamb from a single abattoir/meat packer
- Those of us that think we have kept GM away from our shores are deluding ourselves. More than one million tonnes of GM soya and maize is fed to our pigs, chickens and dairy cows annually with no labelling requirement on the final product and the ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup, an ingredient in thousands of our UK products, is almost certainly a GM derivative
- Another example is antibiotic resistance. Transfer of antibiotic resistance from intensive livestock production systems is thought by leading scientists to be a significant factor in the rise of a new and almost untreatable form of E coli blood poisoning which is killing between 2,000 and 4,000 people each year in the UK
- The progressive industrialisation of our food and farming systems has also compromised the health of British children who, along with their US counterparts, are suffering from an epidemic of type 2 diabetes and obesity and are likely to have a shorter life span than their parents
- In one situation in the film Britain is not identical to that of the US - UK cattle do still live mainly on grass, we don't permit growth hormones and there are encouraging signs that demand for local and organic food is growing. But none of that should be any cause for complacency.
What you can do to help
The Soil Association believes everyone in the UK should watch this film. In the opening sequences of the film Eric Schlosser described the 'veil of secrecy' which shrouds 21st century food systems and how the corporations really don't want you to know the true story behind your food. He is right. The greatest barrier to transforming our food systems is public ignorance - we ALL need to watch this film and know this stuff.
We urge you to go and see this film to see the issues we face for yourself. We don’t want you to feel helpless about the issues after you’ve seen it and much can be done by making simple and small changes in your food choices without having to change your whole life-style.
Seen the film?
Food, Inc. has inspired our new appeal - '
Hungry for Change'. If you’ve been affected by the film please support the work of the Soil Association by becoming a member or giving a donation to help us conquer these issues.
Film maker Robbie Kenner and food expert Eric Schlosser visit a Food for Life Partnership school in Hackney to talk about food culture and learn how schools and communities are helping to create a sustainable food futureOther ways to get involved
Your help, however large or small can always make a huge difference to our work.