Food, Inc.

[Nathans_Dad]

I watched this movie this week and was really blown away by it.

Has anyone else watched it/care to discuss the issues?

I will say that it has made me rethink my choices at the store and my wife and I scoped out our local farmer's markets and plan to shop there a lot more...

[john70t]

Saw it, read Omnivore's Dillema and others. Good flick.
It's a little nerve-racking that most fish(even in the remote wild) test positive for mercury, and most meat tests positive for ecoli.

The local backyard eggs were shown to have up to twice as much protein content due to a varied diet.

[john70t]

The biggest threat to public health? The agracultural giants.
Monsanto has a history of suing small farmers which have the misfortune to be located downwind of another Monsanto-seeded farm.
-The wind naturally blows pollen around.
-They test for traces of their propretary-rights genetic material, and then bill the farmers for supposedly using their seed.
-"Even if you're not using our seed, pay us, or get sued out of business".

This has created a virtual monopoly for America's largest food source. Not only is corn heavily subsidized, but their bigwigs sit on the FDA board.

More importantly, the genetic diversity of the crop itself dissapears: greatly reducing nutritional value, and setting up this country for disaster.
Want to talk about bio-warfare? All China/NK/Iran/etc. has to do is engineer a single dominant genetic trait which kills Monsanto corn.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I've been vegetarian for 25-ish years. No regrets whatsoever. Nobody ever seems to get cancer or whatever from eating fruits and vegetables. The problems are always with the fleshy stuff.

And yes, I realize we could ALL eat better, but in general it just seems to always be the meat products that cause the problems. I've never had any health problems whatsoever. I bet dietary choice has something to do with this.

Don't know this particular film but I'll check it out - probably nothing I don't already know, but what the heck...

[Nathans_Dad]

It's really eye opening, especially the part about the corn subsidies and how Monsanto controls the entire soybean industry in the US through legal bullying. Really is worth a watch just as a great documentary, even if you don't buy into the message.

[The Gaijin]

The whole food-industrial complex is based on soybeans and corn. That is the base feed-stocks for almost all processed food and animal feed. That includes farm raised fish, chickens and sweeteners.

And it is all grown with GMO seeds and tons of natural gas fertilizer and pesticides.

Humans and animals were never designed to survive on this stuff - much less thrive.

No wonder obesity and all the attendant conditions are at crisis levels in this country.

[Christien]

Originally Posted by The Gaijin

The whole food-industrial complex is based on soybeans and corn. That is the base feed-stocks for almost all processed food and animal feed. That includes farm raised fish, chickens and sweeteners.

And it is all grown with GMO seeds and tons of natural gas fertilizer and pesticides.

Humans and animals were never designed to survive on this stuff - much less thrive.

No wonder obesity and all the attendant conditions are at crisis levels in this country.

I haven't seen the film, but I highly doubt that obesity and its issues are due to pesticides and GM seeds in base foods. I'm quite sure it has to do with unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles. It doesn't matter if your hamburger and fries are all made from organic sources, they're still ridiculously high in fat and calories, and if you sit at a computer all day, you don't work that off.

[vash]

the soybean part and chicken farm segment were especially troubling.

[Dottore]

Yes, I saw this a couple of months ago. I had hoped it would win an Oscar so that it might attract more attention.

This whole topic is one I care about deeply. I am always amazed how many people are still out there who will eat anything, and who have absolutely no interest in where their food comes from and how many toxins are in it.

You are what you eat. You ingest toxins, and you will eventually become ill. It's that simple.

This is an area where a whole lot more regulation is needed, and the Canadians and Europeans are way ahead of you there.

The Swiss, take this to extremes—in a good way. Each egg you buy in Switzerland has a date stamp on it—when it was laid. Each piece of meat has a sticker telling you exactly which town it came from etc.

Food Inc. makes the point that consumers have to demand healthier choices. The industry won't lead the demand here—the demand has to lead the industry.

[vash]

Oprah is the movie's #1 fan. it is getting plenty of press.

thinking about this movie has me shopping for my own grass fed cow, and a source for happy chickens. figured it will cost me more. but maybe i will eat way less meat. i did find the chickens relatively nearby. chez panisse, some local restaurant buys all the birds there, so they jacked $$ up. $9 each!!

and i have my mini flock of egg layers..more eggs than i can possibly eat. i give away 50% easy.

[legion]

I haven't seen the movie, but I've seen/read many things on the topic.

You do realize that food is produced the way it is produced for a reason, right? If it wasn't done this way, there would be mass starvation. We have developed a system that produces the most food possible using limited resources.

If everything was grown organically, or all livestock was free range, we wouldn't be able to make enough food to feed everyone in the country, let alone export like we currently do. Go ahead, compare crop yields on organic crops to those conventionally grown. Compare the head per acre on free range cattle versus the standard stock.

And that doesn't even address the economic impact. If all food was produced the way these people want it produced, only the very wealthy could afford to eat. Throughout human history, the primary nutritional problem was lack of calories. We have finally solved that problem in the last 60 years. This is a huge accomplishment for mankind. It is better to be fat with some health problems than starving and eventually dead.

[The Gaijin]

Originally Posted by Christien

I haven't seen the film, but I highly doubt that obesity and its issues are due to pesticides and GM seeds in base foods. I'm quite sure it has to do with unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles. It doesn't matter if your hamburger and fries are all made from organic sources, they're still ridiculously high in fat and calories, and if you sit at a computer all day, you don't work that off.

For full disclosure - I have not seen the movie either. But these issues are all over the media and are a concern of people who try and stay fit and healthy.

What GMO seeds and pesticides do is allow farming and food to turn into another industrialized commodity. Not that these is anything noble paying for expensive food - but the way it is now - we a culture addicted to cheap junk food and sugars.

Corn and soybeans are the worst - barely digestible buy humans or animals.

Corn is native the Americas and was traditionally eaten with other foods. Soybeans are eaten in Asia - but usally after being allowed to ferment first into soy sauce, "natto" or miso..

[The Gaijin]

Originally Posted by legion

And that doesn't even address the economic impact. If all food was produced the way these people want it produced, only the very wealthy could afford to eat. Throughout human history, the primary nutritional problem was lack of calories. We have finally solved that problem in the last 60 years. This is a huge accomplishment for mankind. It is better to be fat with some health problems than starving and eventually dead.

Pre-WWII the American diet was healthier and so were the people.

We ate more lamb and mutton than beef, more beef than pork and more pork than chicken. Most of it raised on grass. People were not starving in America.

It is BEST to have a healthy diet - and not have the health problems - if you look around Wal Mart that aint happening..

[vash]

[QUOTE=legion;5230348]
You do realize that food is produced the way it is produced for a reason, right? If it wasn't done this way, there would be mass starvation. We have developed a system that produces the most food possible using limited resources.
[QUOTE]

not so sure about this. food is produced the way it is, so Mickey D's can sell a combo meal for $4. a person can go to costco, or safeway, and buy a rotisserie chicken for $5.

prices would go up for sure, with more grassroots farming.

[vash]

Originally Posted by The Gaijin

Pre-WWII the American diet was healthier and so were the people.

We ate more lamb and mutton than beef, more beef than pork and more pork than chicken. Most of it raised on grass. People were not starving in America.

It is BEST to have a healthy diet - and not have the health problems - if you look around Wal Mart that aint happening..

goat is the most commonly eaten meat worldwide. way less fat and cholesterol than beef. i am hoping to slaughter two goats next week. my bro will drive one home to texas, for my parents. hope it doesnt taste like chit. curry anyone?

[Tim Walsh]

My wife developed a corn and soy allergy about a year ago. Want to really open your eyes? Go to the grocery store and feed your family with neither. Corn Syrup is in EVERYTHING. For instance,we're down to one brand of Potato chip(utz, salted or salt and pepper).

[legion]

Do research. LOTS of people died of starvation or malnutrition-related conditions in the U.S. prior to WWII. People were not healthier. They were shorter (a sign of insufficient calorie intake) and died earlier.

And yes, what is not a big price increase to some of you would mean mass starvation at the bottom of the economic scale. The poor in this country are often obese because the cheap foods have high caloric content. Force the agriculture industry to use certain methods to make you feel better about yourself, and those foods will dissapear. All that will be left is relatively low-calorie foods at high prices. It will be a double-whammy for the poor.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by Tim Walsh

My wife developed a corn and soy allergy about a year ago. Want to really open your eyes? Go to the grocery store and feed your family with neither. Corn Syrup is in EVERYTHING. For instance,we're down to one brand of Potato chip(utz, salted or salt and pepper).

Corn Syrup is in everything processed. The goal of course is to get away from processed foods.

It's stunning to me to see how high a percentage of your average US supermarket is devoted to processed foods.

A complete sea-change needs to occur, with people learning to cook again, and learning to cook fresh foods.

A 16-year old nephew of mine from Germany spent a year outside of Knoxville Tennessee last year on an exchange program in order to learn English. He boarded with a couple of local school teachers. In one year this kid gained just shy of 40 pounds! The entire year they ate either fast food, or processed food (instant meals, frozen dinners etc etc). And these were school teachers.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by legion

I haven't seen the movie, but I've seen/read many things on the topic.

You do realize that food is produced the way it is produced for a reason, right? If it wasn't done this way, there would be mass starvation. We have developed a system that produces the most food possible using limited resources.

If everything was grown organically, or all livestock was free range, we wouldn't be able to make enough food to feed everyone in the country, let alone export like we currently do. Go ahead, compare crop yields on organic crops to those conventionally grown. Compare the head per acre on free range cattle versus the standard stock.

And that doesn't even address the economic impact. If all food was produced the way these people want it produced, only the very wealthy could afford to eat. Throughout human history, the primary nutritional problem was lack of calories. We have finally solved that problem in the last 60 years. This is a huge accomplishment for mankind. It is better to be fat with some health problems than starving and eventually dead.

You really need to dig a bit deeper... Mexico had hardly any malnutrition in the past... but since they started using Monsanto corn, things went down hill real fast.
The Genetically Manipulated corn may yield bigger crops, the corn itself, is pretty much useless in a stable diet... It has almost no nutrition in it...

It's hard to find any information on that, because Monsanto pretty much spams every place there could be any kind of information... with FUD...

The kind of FUD you recycled...

America is the land of the fat and obese.. (no offence intended, i'm not trying to call names here..) So there is no need whatsoever, to produce such quantities of food..
the US population (Europe as a close second), would be a lot healthier if there was less but better quality food..
Food that has good nutrition, not food that is easy to make in large volumes and poor quality.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by legion

Do research. LOTS of people died of starvation or malnutrition-related conditions in the U.S. prior to WWII. People were not healthier. They were shorter (a sign of insufficient calorie intake) and died earlier.

And yes, what is not a big price increase to some of you would mean mass starvation at the bottom of the economic scale. The poor in this country are often obese because the cheap foods have high caloric content. Force the agriculture industry to use certain methods to make you feel better about yourself, and those foods will dissapear. All that will be left is relatively low-calorie foods at high prices. It will be a double-whammy for the poor.

This is incorrect for all kinds of reasons—and Food Inc. tries to debunk some of these myths.

One of the subtexts of the films is to promote eating fresh and seasonal foods raised or farmed in the region where you live. Or at least you should aim to do this most of the time.

Instead today your food industry is dominated by four or five conglomerates. You sit in say New York and buy a burger. The meat came from a cow in a feed lot in, say, Nebraska. The cow was fed on feed grown in Texas and shipped to Nebraska. Then it was sent god knows where for slaughtering and processing, before the beef patty was shipped to New York.

The transportation costs involved here more than negate any price advantage gained by centralizing these activities to the extent these conglomerates have—and this doesn't even begin to address the issues related to disease, hormone supplements, bulk diets—that accompany any effort to totally mechanize the process of rearing livestock.

Many restaurants here are now buying exclusively regionally—and I think this is great. I personally refuse to eat seafood from China for example. I was recently in a seafood restaurant on the Monterey pier and went into the kitchen. The prawns came from Thailand, the Mussels from China, the clams from Indonesia, the Salmon was farmed and the whitefish was tank-farmed Tilapa. This is all wrong on so many levels, it almost doesn't bear discussing. This in a place that has a "Fresh Seafood" sign outside in Neon. Feck Me!

Locally grown, sustainable food does not have to be more expensive to the consumer. That is a myth. But the system is all wrong. We have farmers in our area selling their products at prices that are less than those of the big supermarket chains. When you think of the huge transportation and processing and distribution and advertising costs etc built into the supermarket stuff—and then the pressure to return value to shareholders—the whole business of quality and nutrition becomes secondary.

There is far too much rubbish sold as food in the US. That is a simple fact. And this doesn't need to be so.

PS: And this doesn't even begin to consider the negative health consequences on consumers of eating heavily processed food full of toxins from hormones to stabilizers and preservatives etc.