Food Inc - Independent Lens on PBS. Great documentary

[JohnWxy]

Too much to even attempt to summarize.

One thing that surprised the hell out of me is "veggie libel laws" which make it easier for food producers, in the states where these laws exist, to sue anyone who "disparages" the food they produce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_libel_laws

also, interesting was the fact that because of NAFTA Mexican corn farmers were driven out of business by U.S. corporate farms. Remember a couple years ago when food prices spiked because petroleum prices shot up (energy prices are a big component of food prices). THere were reports of high corn prices and shortages (shortage of a commodity will cause the price to shoot up) in Mexico. Well, gosh, I wonder if the Mexican corn farmers hadn't been run out of business by U.S. Corporate farms if they would have had those shortages of corn in Mexico?????


http://www.pbs.org/pov/foodinc/">Food Inc - the documetary

[unpossibles]

1. great movie

sadly not enough people will see it, but one never knows.

[bif]

2. Just watched on Netflix Watch Instantly

Excellent and scary movie.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Thanks for the link.

[Warpy]

4. I don't know how anybody can eat mass produced ground beef

after watching that film. If you don't own a grinder or food processor, you can use a cutting board and two big knives, just alternate hands and keep chopping until it's the grind you want. I use Chinese cleavers and back before they started mass producing ground chicken and turkey, that's the only way I could get those items.

Part of the spike in corn prices, by the way, came at a time when all other commodities, including staple foodstuffs like rice and corn, were being bid up by hedge funds. When the 2008 crash started to unfold, those hedge funds dumped their futures first and prices dropped like a rock. Shortages were caused by hoarding, something that always happens during a price spike.

The film isn't all a downer, by the way. The last bit is quite hopeful, that if people demand better products, they will get them. The problem right now is that people can't afford to demand to be treated any better.

[handmade34]

6. if I weren't already a vegetarian

I would be after watching Food, INC. last year. Excellent film.

I have been a vegetarian on and off for 40 years. Approx. 5 years ago I traveled through Kansas on Hwy 50 (planned to stop in Dodge City - didn't) and I became so nauseaus and disgusted by the miles and miles of cattle feedlots that I vowed never, ever to put farm factory meat in my body again.

[amborin]

7. plus, get rid of the obscene gov't subsidies to the big 5, for starters

[Warpy]

9. No shit! If we're going to subsidize something

make it staples, especially fresh fruit and veggies.

When I was at my poorest, I never was able to afford fresh fruit. The only fruit I got was an occasional splurge on a small jar of applesauce, doled out by the spoonful on bread.

[veganlush]

5. Yes, everyone should check out this movie..

..and then read the old but timeless "Diet for a new America" by Baskin/Robbins ice cream fortune heir-apparent John Robbins, who turned down the family business because of it's dependence on animal products and therefore animal cruelty in addition to the fact that it promoted unhealthy eating.

[dhill926]

8. that's the book that instantly......

turned me into a veggie 20 some odd years ago........

[veganlush]

10. wow, that's exactly how it happened to me..

..I read it in the mid-eighties and became a vegetarian (vegan since '04) I read an interview with Al yankovich not long ago and he said the same thing! a fan apparently gave him the book.

The book did very well I guess, despite the fact that it's name relegated it to the diet book section in many stores.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. "Beyond Beef" did it for me. nt