Food Inc.

A very informed (and helpful) lady from the local Nest board I frequent, had posted a recommendation for the movie, "Food Inc". I decided this afternoon to sit down and watch this documentary on the food industry, and the powers behind it.

First of all, let me say, I may not eat meat for a very long time- it was absolutely and incredibly disgusting. I for one will be marching downstairs in about 5 minutes to take the new bag of lime wings we just purchased from Costco this morning, and throwing it into the garbage after seeing how the "manufacturer" of these wings stipulates it's contractors (farmers) breed their chickens. These chickens were literally toppling over because they grew in size so quickly that their bones and internal organs simply couldn't support them! After listening to the testimonies of some of the farmers who grew organically, I will certainly now be changing my shopping habits to Sunflower Market, Sprouts, and other local farmers markets. Additionally I will start regularly ordering my produce via bountiful baskets and learning to love produce of all seasons (read me not being so picky!).

I think what angered me the most, was the political movements behind all of this. The alarming statistics of the 50,000 FDA investigations done in the 1970's compared to the 9100 (and change) done now, is horrific, especially considering how many new outbreaks of Ecoli we hear about ranging from meat, to spinach, to tomatoes.

Additionally- the lock and key the meat packing and agricultural industries have on farmers, labor, and resources is absolutely disgusting- and due to these "veggie laws" consumers are all but gagged from complaining or discussing concerns regarding products. Whats worse are the "Cheeseburger laws" the meat packing industry has gotten passed to make it virtually impossible for you to sue them (and their the ones killing people)!

One point that was brought up during the film, that hit home considering recent debate here in AZ, was how our subsidisation of corn has impacted migrant farmers in Mexico. Basically, with the introduction of NAFTA and the substation of corn, we put over a million and a half farmers in Mexico out of business (they couldn't produce and make profit on corn at the prices we were selling it). Right- so we put them out of business, then make it a crime for them to come to our country trying to survive? What makes matters worse? This documentary also alleged that there is a Meet Packing Plant (or several) that are busing in migrant workers and turning over 10-15 individuals a day, to keep them from being raided (read not losing enough work force to impact production).

So- we shut down their industry, make it illegal for them to be here, bus them in, use them, then deport them when their time comes so we don't raid the meat house and impact what we pay at the local grocery store for a pound of beef?

Wow. What's wrong with that picture?