America's Food

The other night I watched a documentary on America's food industry called Food, inc. It gave me an intriguing look into the dark side of the processing of meat, how the animals are treated, and how the workers in this business are mistreated and kept under a close watch by huge corporations. One point the film highlighted was the use of corn in almost everything that we eat nowadays. It's amazing how many things contain corn in the form of high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, and xanthan gum. Corn is also used as feed for cattle which allows companies to feed many cows at once as well as make them fatter quicker. The food companies do this so that they can subsidize their products to provide cheaper food to the public.

Another detail that startled me was how the farmers of these crops and animals were treated. The chicken farmers make about $13,000 a year and the farmhouses used to house the chickens cost over $200,000 each. The corporations make contracts with the farmers and it is usually the only thing keeping the farmers in business. The animals are fed so much so quickly that their young legs allow them only to walk a few steps before sitting back down again. Cameras were prohibited from entering the dark houses that held all of the chickens but only one or two allowed them to enter. The crowded conditions inside the chicken houses result in the chicken standing around in their own feces. This means that when they go to the slaughter house, the chances of contamination are high.


There was a mother interviewed whose healthy son contracted E. Coli through eating contaminated beef. He was dead within 12 days. She was an advocate for food safety and her actions brought about Kevin's Law: a law named after her son which states that companies can be put out of business if they have multiple cases of food contamination. Overall the movie was very interesting and thought provoking and I think that it would be a great education If you are ever curious about how the food industry works and what is really in your food.