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| Closing Tonight, 8/13/09, at 9:40pm: "Food, Inc." (2009) The Little Theater |
By: Christopher J. Wilmot
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Posted: Sunday, August 2, 2009 10:00 pm
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On virtually the same subject: Rent or buy "The World According to Monsanto".
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August 13, 2009 Rochester, NY - About 100 years ago, the American farmer, on average, could feed six people. Today, that number has grown to 126 hungry stomachs. Or so it is claimed in a remarkable new documentary, "Food, Inc." (2009) rated PG; 94 minutes in length.
Filmmaker Robert Kenner has constructed an extremely thought provoking and controversial movie that busts the American corporate food industry wide open. According to such interview subjects as author Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma), and Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation"), the federal government of the United States has allowed just a few multi-national conglomerates to control approximately 80% of the entire food industry in this country. A few quick, down and dirty stats from "Food, Inc." should illuminate this dangerous corporate consolidation, dominating the absolute most important consumer purchase, ever, and always:
* In the early-1970's, the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) conducted approximately 55,000 inspections of food processing plants and slaughter-houses, per year, on average. In 2006, the FDA let that number slip to about 9,000 inspections per year.
* A half-century ago, there were hundreds of slaughter houses around the nation. Today, there are 13.
* In the early-1970's, four or five corporations controlled about 20% of the American food industry. These days, about the same small number of corporations control nearly 80% of our food industry.
* The big corporate players on the food industry scene are companies like: Cargill; annual revenues, 2007, or latest year available: $120 billion. Archer Daniels Midland (ADM); $44 billion. PepsiCo; $39 billion. Kraft; $37 billion; Tyson Foods; $26 billion. Sara Lee; $13 billion. ConAgra Foods; $12 billion. General Mills; $12 billion. Smithfield Foods; $11 billion. And, Monsanto (chemicals, yet also "seed patents"); $8.6 billion.
* Monsanto is a special, most disturbing case. The makers of Agent Orange, used as a defoliant in Vietnam, that sickened or killed thousands, had the genius idea to patent soybeans and corn seed. Guess who wrote the majority opinion for the U.S. Supreme Court giving Monsanto this hideous food monopoly? None other than Justice Clarence Thomas, who as it turns out, was a high level employee of Monsanto in the mid-to-late 1970's. Certainly, no conflict of interest there.
One of the most powerful sections of the film is when we are introduced to a middle age woman, and her mother. The middle age woman (name withheld; you'll have to see the movie) was a mother to a healthy 3-year old boy named Kevin. One day, at the end of a family vacation, Kevin consumed a hamburger. His parents noticed blood in his loose stool immediately, and rushed him to the hospital.
Kevin was quickly diagnosed with Hemorrhagic E-Coli, clearly contracted from the hamburger. But the diagnosis was too late. 3-year old Kevin died in less than a week. As his shocked and bereaved parents later discovered, the slaughter house and processing plant responsible for that particular batch of hamburger already knew the plant was contaminated, but did nothing for 12 days after Kevin's death. Finally, in late August of that year, again, 12 days after Kevin died, the E-Coli riddled hamburger was recalled. According to "Food, Inc.", due to lax oversight by the industry and its lackeys in the federal government, if everyone in charge had simply done their job, Kevin would never have had the chance to eat the contaminated hamburger.
Kevin's mother quickly became an advocate for better food safety, and lobbied Congress to create the appropriate legislation to help prevent more unnecessary deaths like Kevin's. What's known as "Kevin's Bill" has still not passed Congress, despite having more than one sponsor. The legislation has been languishing in Congress for the better part of eight years.
A companion piece to "Food, Inc." is the highly touted (and reviewed by the Smugtown Beacon), "The World According to Monsanto", which is at least as well made as "Food, Inc." Both films demonstrate that the problem with food oversight is not simply one of neglect or mistake-prone federal agencies like the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) or the FDA, but each film makes the rather convincing point that during the last four Presidential administrations (Reagan, Bush, Sr.; Clinton & Bush, Jr.) key regulatory high level posts in the FDA, USDA, and the EPA were populated by individuals, both men and women, who had already worked intimately in the food processing and production industries. Nothing like the fox guarding the hen house, when it comes to keeping Cargill, Tyson, and Monsanto happy.
The Solution: Go Organic !
The director, screenwriter, and many of the interviewees make it clear that, in the words of the founder of Stoneyfield Farms Organic Foods, "it's not about David versus Goliath. It's about Goliath versus Goliath." Stoneyfield was referring to fighting fire with fire. Their basic point was this: Walmart, and other large food sellers and distributors are not going away. So, make the word organic such a force in the lexicon, that Walmart will seek out organic companies like Stoneyfield Farms, and their tasty yet more organic yogurt, for instance (grass fed cows are healthier than are corn fed cows, yet our government routinely and some say unfairly subsidizes corn production. Grass fed cows are 80% less likely to contract E-Coli, meaning humans are far less likely to contract E-Coli from naturally, grass-fed cows, than the unhealthy--yet cheaper--practice of feeding cows corn, slated for slaughter).
Yet a recent study published last month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that after considering 52,000 articles, 162 studies (137 on crops, & 25 studies on livestock products), "there is no difference in nutrient quality between organically conventionally grown food stuffs." However, it would appear that organically grown crops, purchased near where the crops are harvested, may not suffer the ill effects of pesticide use, or the disadvantage of crops and food stuffs traveling an average of 1,500 miles before arriving on your average supermarket shelf.
"Food, Inc." received a cumulative rating of 97% on the website, Rotten Tomatoes (a very high number, indeed). This author rates the film a little lower, perhaps around 90%. If you are fortunate enough to see this film in the theater, or later obtain it through Netflix, or Best Buy, or Amazon.com, I am confident you will never shop--or eat--the same way again.
Christopher J. Wilmot has been an Associate and Co-Producer of two Hollywood films: "Lost" (2004), starring Dean Cain of "Lois & Clark" TV fame; and "Jam" (2006), starring Alex Rocco, who played Mo Green in "The Godfather". Each film has played numerous times on the Encore Action Cable Network, Showtime Cable Network, and The Movie Channel (TMC). Wilmot is scheduled to Executive Produce a feature film in South Africa early next year.
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