Food Inc. was contrived by people who believe that the food system in this country is broken. They have a hammer-esqe view of how food gets to the grocery store, so everything to them appears to be a nail that needs pounding. They play loose with the facts and complain that nobody in the food industry would talk.
Yet why would you go on camera with someone who already has their mind made up - that what you are doing is bad for those who eat, the environment and so on. But by not going on camera, it allowed the filmmakers to play up the idea that food companies have something to hide.
It’s a classic way to contrive a false controversy and reinforce their message that food no up to their “standard” is scary, bad for you and made by people who want to keep it all a secret.
People who spend a lot of time complaining and misrepresenting facts about the modern food miracle generally do so with full bellies. Others have found that scaring people about the food they eat is a great way to increase sales of their books and movies, or to promote and sell their own food products.
They also use it to their political advantage.
U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D., NY) sponsored a showing of Food Inc. on Capitol Hill. Her spokesperson noted that, “The screening will show people just how bad the food industry is and, with luck, be a wake-up call for staffers and Members [of Congress] - and the public.”
Like others with something to sell, the spokesperson put the words “bad” and “food” in the same sentence for a reason - to try and scare people into believing her sour look at things. What it does, though, is paint all of agriculture and food production negatively, and that’s not right.
Slaughter is also behind efforts to restrict the use of antibiotics in animal production. For a great commentary on her efforts check out this blog post on Brownfield by Steve Kopperud.
There is no one best way to grow corn, soybeans or wheat, or to raise hogs, cattle or chickens. Organic, conventional or whatever - all have important roles in our food supply and all are produced by farmers who work hard to do the best job possible. And, by the way, all farmers work to be sustainable - from financial, social and environmental points of view.
Farmers who raise livestock and poultry for Chipolte do a great job and meet the qualifications of the burrito chain, just as do farmers whose products end up at the grocery store or other restaurants. (Also see this post: When a burrito loses its integrity.)
It’s all about serving the market you want to serve and being as good as possible at it.
What it’s not about is fear mongering and truth stretching.
On that, note, here’s an interesting column from the U.K. - "Organic tastes good, but better for us? No." It gives us permission to eat the 50 cent carrots at the grocery store and not feel guilty.
It is unfortunate that fear mongers make some people feel guilty for buying healthy, affordable foods.
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