Food & Politics
Recently in my english class we watched the provocative documentary called Food Inc. This documentary featured a disturbing look into America's modern day industrial food system and all the work that is put into hiding it from the public and to keep the companies that are hiding from being vulnerable to lawsuits. On top of it all some of these companies in hiding are also creating monopolies. I was completely shocked as I sat and watched all the things the movie covered, I was shocked by the plethora of information that I was learning about the closed doors of the food industry.
First and fore most what caught me off guard was the extensive feed lots where countless cows are forced to live in cramped and terrible conditions. The video showed that some of the cows were so cramped that they struggled to pull their heads up from the ground and get fresh air. Also it displayed the animals standing knee deep in their own waste. The whole time i thought to myself "that is where my food came from, a cow that spent most it's life standing in it's own poop". To me there is something very wrong with that. This ties in with the chicken houses that were shown as well. Over the years the chickens have been changed by science to produce more white meat and to grow at a faster rate. The results of this are that the chickens are barely able to stand or even walk. Many times their legs and organs have a hard time keeping up with the rapid growth of their bodies. Now, I am not saying the video made me want to be come a vegetarian but I thoroughly enjoy meat and it makes me double think where my burger or chicken nuggets are coming from and how terrible of a life did that animal live before they turned into my food.
Another thing that shocked me was the amount of corruption that has been hidden from the consumer's view. There is a corporation called Monsanto that is essentially running a monopoly on genetically modified soy beans and if any farmers try to save the seed from one growing season to the other then Monsanto has been known to sue them for doing so. This led into the part of the movie where it described the number of people in government who were helping to hide all of this from the public and many of these high ranking people had a past with a number of the large food companies in America.
Overall the whole situation is scary and more people need to see where our food comes from because there is a very large disconnect between farmer and consumer. More consumers need to understand the corruptness of the food system we are in but more importantly the consumer needs to realize that they have power over the food industry. Instead of standing idly by and taking what ever the companies have to offer the consumer can help influence their techniques. As the consumer they can choose what to buy and the companies will respond to the demand of the people so what consumers need to do is be smarter about their purchases and look for more organic foods. This shift will help to show the large food companies that we as a people want healthier and safer food because there can't be anything safe about eating meat that came from a cow that spent its life standing in it's own filth as well as the filth of other cows.
First and fore most what caught me off guard was the extensive feed lots where countless cows are forced to live in cramped and terrible conditions. The video showed that some of the cows were so cramped that they struggled to pull their heads up from the ground and get fresh air. Also it displayed the animals standing knee deep in their own waste. The whole time i thought to myself "that is where my food came from, a cow that spent most it's life standing in it's own poop". To me there is something very wrong with that. This ties in with the chicken houses that were shown as well. Over the years the chickens have been changed by science to produce more white meat and to grow at a faster rate. The results of this are that the chickens are barely able to stand or even walk. Many times their legs and organs have a hard time keeping up with the rapid growth of their bodies. Now, I am not saying the video made me want to be come a vegetarian but I thoroughly enjoy meat and it makes me double think where my burger or chicken nuggets are coming from and how terrible of a life did that animal live before they turned into my food.
Another thing that shocked me was the amount of corruption that has been hidden from the consumer's view. There is a corporation called Monsanto that is essentially running a monopoly on genetically modified soy beans and if any farmers try to save the seed from one growing season to the other then Monsanto has been known to sue them for doing so. This led into the part of the movie where it described the number of people in government who were helping to hide all of this from the public and many of these high ranking people had a past with a number of the large food companies in America.
Overall the whole situation is scary and more people need to see where our food comes from because there is a very large disconnect between farmer and consumer. More consumers need to understand the corruptness of the food system we are in but more importantly the consumer needs to realize that they have power over the food industry. Instead of standing idly by and taking what ever the companies have to offer the consumer can help influence their techniques. As the consumer they can choose what to buy and the companies will respond to the demand of the people so what consumers need to do is be smarter about their purchases and look for more organic foods. This shift will help to show the large food companies that we as a people want healthier and safer food because there can't be anything safe about eating meat that came from a cow that spent its life standing in it's own filth as well as the filth of other cows.