User Reviews

The message of 'Food, Inc.' is that most of what Americans now eat is produced by a handful of highly centralized mega-businesses,and that this situation is detrimental to health, environment, even our very humanity. The ugly facts of animal mistreatment, food contamination, and government collusion are covered up by a secretive industry that wouldn't talk to the filmmakers or let the interiors of their chicken farms, cattle ranches, slaughterhouses, and meatpacking plants be filmed.

Informed by the voices and outlook of bestseller authors Eric Schlosser ('Fast Food Nation') and Michael Pollen ('The Omnivore's Dilemma'), this new film is an exposé that offers some hope that things can be made better through grassroots efforts. True, Kenner points out, Monsanto, Smithfield, Perdue, et al. are rich and powerful. But so were the tobacco companies, and if Philip Morris and Reynolds could be fought successfully, so can the food industry. The fact that the vast Walmart is switching to organic foods because customers want them shows people vote effectively with their pocketbooks every time they buy a meal.

Other documentaries have covered this ground before. The 2008 French documentary 'The World According to Monsanto' (2008) focused on how that company, with government support, monopolizes seed planting, and Deborah Koons' 2004 'The Future of Food' went over similar ground. Jennifer Abbott and Mark Achbar's sweeping 2003 film 'The Corporation' (2003) touched on Monsanto's monopoly too. In more general terms, the ominous, narration-free German documentary 'Our Daily Bread' (Nikolaus Geyrhalter, 2003) delivered 'Food, Inc.'s' message about dehumanized factory-style food production with a European focus. Richard Linklater's 2006 'Fast Food Nation' grew out of Schlosser's book about how bad and disgusting American fast food is and how it undermines the health. These are all good films, and there are and will be lots more. As this new film mentions, exploitation and malpractice in the meat industry were exposed as far back as Upton Sinclair's 1906 muckraking book, 'The Jungle.'

'Food, Inc.' is a populist and practical film that speaks with the voices of farmers, advocates, and journalists, and focuses on food, what's wrong with it, and what we can do about it. Kenner offers lots of practical information and appeals to everyday people. The film goes back to the Fifties to show how the rise of fast food contributed to centralized, less diverse American food production. MacDonald's now much of the chicken, beef, potatoes, and many other foods produced in the country. The film explains that only a handful of companies control not only most of the beef, pork, chicken, and corn produced in the US but most other food products as well. Moreover not only is corn the major feed given to food animals, but a surprising amount of the tens of thousands of products sold at today's supermarket -- that packaged junk racked in the center of the store that Atkins and now Pollen have told us to avoid, are also derived from corn. Because of the way certain food products have government support, hamburgers are cheaper than fresh vegetables. Kenner focuses on a low-income Orozcos who both work and feel forced to rely on fast food meals because they fill them and their kids more economically than fresh produce bought at the market.

The new industry has developed chickens that grow bigger faster with more breast meat. They're kept in closed dark pens. The story is the same for all these poor mass produced critters, crammed together in great numbers, filled with antibiotics, deformed, suffering, ankle deep in their own excrement, brutally killed. The film has good footage of the big southern meat producer, Smithfield, showing how the new mega-food industry feeds off of exploited low-wage illegal immigrants who it treats as expendable, just like the animals.

An important spokesman in 'Food, Inc.' is an organic farmer (you could just say a stubbornly old-fashioned one) called Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia, who's also an author, though the movie doesn't mention his books. His cattle are grass-fed and watching them, we realize that's the way nature meant them to be. They roams free, living a healthy life, trimming back the grass while fertilizing it so it will grow back. Cattle weren't meant to live on corn, and doing so has led to infection. The industry solution to such problems is not to change back to earlier methods, but to add more chemicals. They're doing crazy things like adding bleach to hamburger filler to keep the burgers from being poison.

It's hard to keep a balance in such a documentary but Kenner tries. That Hispanic family is important. Slow food and organics have been a thing of the rich, as their dilemma illustrates. There could be more focus on everyday people and their difficult daily choices. The Walmart story is important too: Walmart customers are everyday people. It's easy enough for well heeled families to buy boutique produce at farmer's markets. Average Joes don't always have the time or the money for that. Also important is Barbara Kowalcyk, who works in Washington with her mother as an advocate for stricter laws. Her 2 1/2-year-old son Kevin died in 12 days from a virulent form of E. coli after eating a hamburger on vacation. She wants not sympathy but control of an indifferent industry. Carole Morison is another vivid voice: she is a southern chicken farmer who lost her contract with Perdue for refusing to switch to dark enclosed tunnel chicken coops, the latest in a series of enforced "improvements" that lead to more production at the cost of more cruelty. She also explains how the farmers in thrall to these big companies are kept in debt like indentured servants.

Armed with witty, clear graphics and ironically bright color, 'Food, Inc.' has a chance of gaining more converts to "slow," organic, local food and opponents to crooked food regulation and monopolistic industry. This seems one of the most balanced and humane treatments of the subject yet.

It is said that if you like eating sausage, you better not see how it is made. If you like eating meat, don't watch an animal being killed. If you have your fill of fruits and vegetables daily, don't think about the pesticides that coat them.

Our modern society has sanitized the presentation of food so that we can blissfully ignore what we should be concerned with: where food comes from, how it is raised, picked, handled, altered, transported and sold. Instead our attention is focused only on the awesome number of beautiful packages on market shelves, the unblemished fruits and vegetables available year round. In our increasingly artificial world appearance trumps taste, price trumps provenance, and industrialization gives us a false sense of safety.

It is therefore opportune to have the release of "Food, Inc". After you see it, you'll probably not shop for food in the same way. You may even change the kinds of food you eat. Not enough to convince me to become a vegetarian, but the ubiquitousness of corn and its derivatives, stated multiple times in the film, has made scouring of package labels a routine. The easy rule of not buying anything that contains more than five ingredients more frequently obeyed.

The film contains material that has already been brought out by others, for examples, (1) the problem of genetically modified seeds crossing into properties that do not want them and (2) the appalling conditions in which farm animals are kept. Some material is stressed too much, for example, the whole issue surrounding the tragic death of a kid from a very virulent form of E.coli and the attempts to establish regulations that might prevent such deaths. Individual cases are worth mentioning, but systemic and widespread issues are more compelling. The death of one is no doubt a tragedy but the impairment of thousands is of greater social consequence.

The issue of food regulation in general is a subject that I would have liked to see more of. The adverse effect of more regulation (as per the example above) can be too much regulation. The subject is briefly broached by the "good farmer" (Joel Salatin) who kills his chickens in the open. Ironically those chickens are likely to be more healthy and tasty. Regulation may eliminate this practice. Regulation can therefore have a negative impact on food culture. One of the best example of this is preventing the importation into the US of many delicious young unpasteurized cheese from Europe or even the marketing of such cheese by US producers. How many get sick from those cheese compared to the number of sick from peanut butter or spinach?

The film unwittingly projects a bit of naiveté in a couple of places. The segment about an individual being sued by a food conglomerate and essentially losing for lack of money is not news. This is a capitalist system: more money, better lawyers, almost certain victory. Yet the point is well taken that the food conglomerates are behaving in thuggish ways and acting with the protection of a complicit government (the best money can buy). But again, uncontrolled capitalism generates monopolies and they will fight tooth and nail to retain control and squash any semblance of competition. It's the logic of the beast. This not limited to food. Since voting habits have brought the US to this state of affairs, our only recourse as consumers is to eat bananas, and only bananas, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's called the Chiquita Diet.

In any case, this is a must-see documentary. The director is to be commended for having the courage of tackling this very important topic.

Don't forget to buy a five gallon basket of popcorn dripping with oleo and a big soda with plenty of high fructose corn syrup before going into the screening room. It may be the last time you do.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that foodborne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. If you are the mother of two-year-old Kevin Kowalcyk who died in 2001 after eating a hamburger contaminated with E. Coli, however, statistics do not tell the story of crushing personal loss. The tragedy of Kevin's premature death spurred legislation (known as Kevin's Law) introduced by Rep. Anna G. Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, that would give the U.S. Department of Agriculture the power to close down plants that produce contaminated meat but it has failed repeatedly to pass the U.S. Congress because of opposition from the meat industry.

E-Coli outbreaks and other food-safety related issues are discussed in the outstanding documentary Food, Inc., directed by Robert Kenner, a film, graphic in part, that may leave you with a severe case of indigestion. Kenner is an unabashed advocate for greater food safety and the film with commentary by Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma).attempts to convince the public of the shortsightedness of the mega-corporations that dominate the food industry and their "faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper," method of increasing profits often at the expense of public safety. Representatives from food-producing giants such as Monsanto, Smithfield, Tyson and Perdue that control our food supply were invited to be interviewed for the film but declined or did not respond to Kenner's request. According to Schlosser, "The industry doesn't want you to know the truth about what you're eating - because if you knew, you might not want to eat it."

Interviewing farmers and ranchers, Kenner learned that they are mostly at the mercy of mega-corporations like Monsanto which have increased their share of the soybean market from 2% to 90% in the last decade. Monsanto developed their own custom gene for soybeans and now threaten their customers with lawsuits for patent infringement if they save their own seeds to use the next year. The film observes that part of the reason why the food industry is so hard to regulate is that many of the government officials currently assigned to watchdog roles were once employed by the companies they now monitor and notes that FDA food inspections have plummeted from 50,000 in 1972 to 9,200 in 2006.

Other subjects covered are the treatment of cows that are forced to eat corn instead of grass (which then goes into Coke, high fructose corn syrup, diapers, decongestants, and batteries) and the dreadful conditions of chickens that are herded into darkened cages before they are slaughtered. On that subject, Kenner interviews Carole Morrison who was unwilling to jam her chickens into cages without sunlight and, as a result, had her contract canceled by a giant chicken conglomerate who refused to have any further business dealings with her. Also discussed are the growing rates of diabetes in young people, the soaring incidence of obesity, and the use of low paying illegal immigrants to work in the food processing industry.

In spite of the horror stories, however, Food, Inc. is not depressing and Kenner seems more interested in educating the public than frightening them. He shows that people can make a difference by citing the tobacco industry as well as the efforts of an entrepreneur from Stonyfield Farms who sold his line of organic products to Wal-Mart and a Virginia farmer who insists on raising animals with dignity and respect. To the strain of Bruce Springsteen singing Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land", advice on how individuals can make a difference include – buy locally, shop in farmer's markets where possible, seek out quality and organic products even if they cost a bit more, and be sure to read the labeling to learn where a product comes from and the ingredients it contains.

Food, Inc. by itself may not be the catalyst that will preserve our health and well being and make food taste the way it did fifty years ago, but it is an important start and should be seen by anyone who eats, that means all of us. As the director puts it, "I think we're beginning to see the dangers of this inexpensive food that these big agribusinesses are producing. And the more we can see the cracks in this system, the faster it's going to fall apart. I'm hoping that this film can help people to start to think about it…People are becoming much more conscious of their food, and the more we think about it, the more good food we're going to get." I'll vote for that.

Food, Inc is essential viewing even though it's not a great movie. Much like An Inconvenient Truth its facts and accumulation of information trumps style or overall craft. This doesn't mean that the director isn't making a bad film or doesn't have some clever visual cues and transitions or know how to combine interviews and archival footage, since he does. But it's the precious interviews he gets, and just leaving the theater knowing that American food (or just stretching worldwide) is run by four corporations and that the farming industry as is advertised as "the American Farmer" is in deep trouble.

It's separated into sections, and each one has something interesting. The one that got to me personally was the section on chickens, how they, like cows as well, are genetically engineered to get bigger a lot faster than they used to, and how the working conditions are at best hazardous and at worst untenable. We see one woman interviewed, the only one who bucked her corporate bosses, to let the cameras in to the state of the chicken coop. Even if one hasn't seen a regular chicken coop before, the state of this place, the stark and dark mis-en-scene, gives us a picture of how it is. As someone like myself who likes a good piece of chicken every now and again, it made me about as guilty as imaginable.

But perhaps that's part of the point of Food, Inc - get us informed to the point where we're scared s***less. The downside may be the reach; while Inconvenient Truth had the boost of a Vice President, the big names in this documentary are authors, one of which wrote Fast Food Nation (and, surprisingly, eats a hamburger on camera, from a diner of course, and speaks about how burger and fries are some of his favorite food to eat despite the horrors of the fast food industry). So it's difficult to say how many people will see this who don't already have some idea about the atrocious conditions in slaughterhouses, the outbreaks of E-Coli that affect countless people including little Kevin as seen in the film, and Monsanto's patent of a soybean seed that they genetically altered. Between that last part alone and a little factoid made about Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, it's no wonder one leaves the theater flabbergasted.

There is some hope the film provides, however. A Virginia farmer, who treats all of his livestock with care and feeds them right (not copious amounts of CORN, which, by the way, is practically coming out of your ears as you read this), gives a few moments to reflect on how the ideal of the American farmer, of what they can give to the community and how they can try and be reasonable with having to do the inevitable of killing living things for food. Hell, the director even has Wal-Mart's one really good moment in the documentary sun in years with its endorsement of organic products. But whatever you're own persuasion on food- be you a hardcore vegan or someone just coming from McDonalds before the movie starts- Food, Inc can make some sort of difference, if only for the information. I know I may not stop eating certain foods, but I'll never forget to give another look or a double take on what's in it- or what may not be there at all. This movie is good, valuable stuff.

"Faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper." A farmer describes fast food folly.

Although I would like to call Food, Inc. a horror film, I must relax my delicate eating sensibilities to call it a disturbing documentary. Images of little chickens hanging like laundry on conveyor cables above fast-moving assembly lines and cows patiently standing knee high in feces have changed my attitude toward grilling.

Robert Kenner's Food, Inc. isn't half the fun of a Michael Moore doc in which the infamous director savages everyone from auto execs to neocons. Kenner is more credible because he doesn't viciously pursue any one official, just the food industry itself (and McDonald's more than any other), which has become oligarchic and impersonal, endangering the quality and safety of consumers. Unlike Moore, Kenner has no sense of humor.

Like almost all documentarians, Kenner smartly offers ways to change the barbaric methods and marketing of food. In truth too little praise is given to the food giants that have provided good nutrition and cheaper food in an amazing harvesting that can feed the world. Narrator/interviewer Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and scientist Michael Pollan (UC Berkeley) modestly present their cases for food abuse such as the demand in corporations like McDonalds for "faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper."

On the point of treating animals with kindness, the documentary has encouraged me to consider vegetables.

I recall a story where a teacher had tasked her students to draw a picture of a chicken for art class, and to her surprise, one of them drew a chicken fillet. I suppose the point here is that we've become so detached from the origins of our food sources, save for the form they take when already in the supermarkets, cured and prepared with ready to cook/eat processes becoming the norm of our daily lives. And with periodic cases of food scares and poisoning, this film takes a look throughout the food chain of today, and although it's rather US-centric, it still has plenty of relevance here since after all, we import almost everything.

With technological research applied to our food sources, be it the humble grain or to the meat to satisfy all us omnivores out there, the drive of course is to produce enough to feed all the mouths, although sometimes things get done out necessity, and spiral out of control when the pressure's there to produce food that can grow faster, fatter, and to shorten the time it takes to get to the dining table.

Directed by Robert Kenner, this is a documentary that followed some of the points that you would have become familiar with in films like Fast Food Nation, whose writer also provided an interview and laid the foundations of our predicament quite squarely on the MacDonald brothers, who had revolutionized the way food gets prepared, presented, and sourced. Kenner cleverly sections the film into digestible chunks, each focused on aspects of the food chain and the products themselves. The stark images and footage on how animals are treated as products in an assembly line subjected to the mass production (killing) process, will definitely shock you into thinking – that cannot be right, nor humane. Will it make you swear off meat? Probably.

In fact, the picture got painted in very bleak terms, where food conglomerates continue to grow in size and profits, resulting in the power they have over consumers, politicians and the likes, where choice and options are but a facade on shelves because the brands and products all belong to common parents. Corporations exists for profits, and are not responsible for consequences arising from their drive to make money. Everything else that resulted from that drive, whether or not a negative impact on society and human lives, can be considered collateral in their goal to feed the earth, and profit from it. Naturally, none of the conglomerate representatives wanted to be interviewed for the film, and that comes with no surprise, especially when their underhanded tactics in dealing with opposition, and corrupt practices get exposed through hidden cameras.

And in some ways, the film too makes you feel a little guilty for being part of the fuel on the demand side of things. With demand comes the opportunity to supply, and make money, and corporate social responsibility is still something relatively new as a buzzword that has plenty of room to be translated into action.

But the film is not all noise in complaining and presenting a doomsday scenario, and that's where the film earned merits in providing workable alternative solutions rather than just barking up a tree. It balanced the issues on what we could do, and engages the audience to be catalyst for change, making one realize that one has the power to skew demand to more acceptable methods of production, rather than one bred on convenience. It's not all serious nature here, as Kenner does inject enough well-placed humour into the documentary so that it doesn't come off as too heavy-handed in treatment, in pointing the loaded guns of blame onto others.

Food, Inc. is an incredible documentary about where our food comes from, and for those without an inkling of knowledge, it would be worthwhile to sit through this film and get some enlightenment. More importantly of course, is to take action to prevent our stomachs from becoming just repositories for Salt, Fat and Sugar. Highly Recommended.

Did you know that it only takes 48 days for a chicken to go to market. Is this natural? This film explores how food is grown, and the concerns that people have, such as the e-coli outbreak that seems to happen every year. I am a lover of meat, but after this film you will want to change some of your practices like switching to Organic etc. This film also explores demand for certain products that are not Genetically modified.

We all have to eat but we can make decisions based on facts, instead of based on perception. People need to be aware that their consequences may have dire repercussions, so if you need to eat, and we all do, then go out and see this.

With family run farms pretty much a thing of the past, institutional farming has pretty much taken over,and the dim,dark & dismal effects are omnipresent. There is an epidemic of food borne illness,due to cattle being exposed to over use of steroids to make them grow fatter, faster (and this also includes chickens,pigs,etc.),not to mention GMO corn,grains,etc. Robert Kenner's eye opening film, 'Food,Inc.' manages to shine at least some light on some pretty unethical practices that are being undertaken by corporate owned & managed farms. The likes of Eric Schlosser (author of 'Fast Food Nation',which was made into a semi fictional film a few years back)is featured in interviews,along with Michael Pollan. Many fingers are pointed at guilty parties doing the dirty deeds of the farming industry,along with some pretty unpleasant footage of unethical practices (i.e. abuse of farm animals, although this film doesn't take up any kind of vegetarian/vegan agenda of it's own---the viewer can make up their own mind just what they prefer to eat). Much to my surprise,there is little discussion of the mad cow disease epidemic (or,BSE)from a few years back (only a passing reference). Rated PG by the MPAA,this film contains some unpleasant footage of animal abuse,as well as a rude word,or two. Okay for older children who care about what's on their plate for breakfast,lunch or dinner.

Greetings again from the darkness. Was reticent to see this one thinking I might never want to eat again. Much of what is in the film is not really new, but the entire segment on corn was really an eye opener.

No real surprise that a few giant companies, with governmental subsidies, control our entire food market ... and that it run like a giant factory and not Grandpa's farm. Still it is painful to watch what the workers and animals and farmers are subjected to.

The two messages we are left with - push the government for better controls and power by the FDA and USDA, and eat more organic food ... even if it is more expensive.

This documentary does a good job educating the consumers on how food is produced,packed and marketed in U.S nowadays. By going back repeatedly to how it was before it shows us how much it has evolved and also the effects of those drastic changes on food prices, American eating habits and ultimately on their health. The movie does all that without ever going over the top or becoming apocalyptic, which seems to be a trend for these type of movies nowadays,it does call out the greedy mega food corporation and the state officials for not arming the regulatory agencies better but the consumers are also at fault here for not informing themselves enough on the content of the products in order to choose what's best for their health not just for their wallet.

This Oscar nominated documentary probes into the contemporary American food industry in which high profits are valued over producing safe and healthy products. The film treads some very familiar territory as it looks at the inhumane ways animals are farmed in bulk and the way certain seeds are genetically modified, but more often than not, the film is insightful, even utterly fascinating on occasion as it gets into the debate over transparent food labeling. The film does, however, frequently feel unfocused as it rather randomly jumps between food poisoning, the high cost of vegetables compared to fast food, the gradually fattening of chickens over the years and the list goes on. It is a bit of maudlin affair at times too with over-the-top melodramatic background music for such moments as a diabetic father sighing over how expensive broccoli is to buy for his kids (who would really want to eat it!?). The choice to conclude the documentary with a whole lot of inspirational slogans thrown on screen additionally comes off as a little awkward. For all its drawbacks, 'Food Inc.' nevertheless remains rather riveting to view. All of the interview subjects are clearly passionate about their causes. Complacent as the majority of us may well be regarding what we consume, the film provides a worthwhile look at those who care a lot and their very valid reasons why.

Robert Kenner's movie is a perfect illustration of F. William Engdahl's book 'Seeds of Destruction', which explains how international agribusinesses are trying to monopolize vertically and horizontally (and profit from) food production on a world scale.

The world's food chain is built mainly on heavily subsidized and, therefore, cheap corn. In fact, all humans chew corn the whole day long from bread over meat (all animals are fed with corn) to deserts and drinks. Transnational corporations are even trying to learn fish to eat corn. Corn becomes nearly a food monoculture. A particular transnational company even developed through genetic engineering highly efficient corn seed which it patented, thereby creating a nearly seed monopoly. Buyers cannot use the produce of the seeds as plant seed for future harvests. The company's own inspection force controls with hawk eyes that its clients buy new genetically modified seed every year. Some of the company's supporters and former directors occupy key positions in US governments and government administrations (FDA).

The movie shows the disastrous effects of intensive farming on animals, as well as the health and environmental risks of diminished standards at livestock farming and slaughtering houses. Fortunately, some biological farmers show more respect for their animals and for their clients.

At the end of the movie, the makers give a perfect list of recommendations for those wishing to eat 'healthy' food.

This movie is a must see for all those who want to understand the world we live in.

"Food Inc." certainly provides a lot of food for thought (pun intended). It is a worthwhile documentary and deserves some attention. However, it is unfortunate that it is so biased. Full disclosure: I am a journalist who writes for an agricultural publication which takes advertising dollars from some of the corporations slammed in this film. So I may have a slight bias toward farming. But I would like to add a little balance. For instance, how many people realize that E. coli can infect organic foods as well as corporately grown foods? In fact, it is likely that some of the spinach involved in the E. coli outbreak of a few years ago was grown on an organic farm. Organic produce can easily be tainted with E. coli, since it usually comes from animal feces, and manure is often used to fertilize organic fields. But that bit of information was conveniently left out of the documentary. Also, it is ridiculous to blame the food industry for the California family's love affair with fast food. To claim they are virtually forced to eat McDonald's burgers because broccoli is too expensive is laughable. A family can eat a well-rounded diet very economically. And that, by the way, is largely because of the wonderful advances made by the agricultural industry over the past few decades which has made food production more efficient.

I was expecting more from this movie, I really learnt nothing from this that I didn't already know. I was expecting to at least see the inside of a battery hen farm or see live footage of sick cows being slaughtered but all they could get was one farmer showing us the outside of a pen and saying he couldn't show us inside and library footage of other poor cattle conditions. There were also repeated shots of a plane's view of a massive cattle ranch.

There were no interviews or even attempts to interview (a la michael moore) any major reps of meat packing companies and this seemed like one big plug for the organic food industry which was summed up in the closing credits.

All-in-all, a disappointment as the movie didn't really deliver its premise, this was lazy investigative journalism

Took my little bro to this movie - he usually doesn't give a crappe about ANYTHING.

But he was TOTALLY GADSMACKED by this movie, and THAT says A lot. He and so many of his peers don't give a S*** about much of anything, ESPECIALLY their diet.

I dare say he's CHANGING NOW.

This documentary presents so much information we think we already heard in a brilliant, revealing EYE-OPENING way. The stories are completely MESMERIZING and compelling. You will not be able to turn away.

The illogic of those GMO "food" companies in power will make your skin crawl. They DON'T CARE a WHIT about YOU. Just the bucks you can give them, and the lusty POWER of dominion over you.

The AMAZING thing is THIS - it wouldn't surprise me AT ALL if the KIDS of these Monsanto execs and power lawyers EAT ORGANIC HEALTHY DELICIOUS stuff while they shove crappe down your throat.

Just a thought. I doubt they raise THEIR kids on chem-a-crap burgers from sick steers.

What do YOU think? SUFFICE it to say, yeah a bit peeved so apologies...

GO SEE THIS MOVIE - you will be SO GLAD you did. And mebbe if you're lucky, will CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

FOR THE BETTER.

And when you're feeling better, also go and see the movie "HOME." It's a visually STUNNING and magnificent movie and will take your breath away.

This film is broken into segments ranging from the seed, farmer, product, animal, FDA etc.

Each segment could easily be an hour and half movie. I could understand that may be a little overwhelming, for that I would recommend watching another documentary "King Corn" first which is about corn.

I found the "King Corn" knowledge helpful because "Food Inc" is so crammed with info that little things like why we grow so much corn and soybeans are just mentioned as subsidies without delving into too much detail. "King Corn" will fill in these gaps.

However subsidies aside "Food Inc" is quite impressive in showing the Tyrannical Empire our food industries have become and how they control the farmer, the seed, the worker and even how they are regulated.

Fantastic film.

I would also recommend "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" it's a bit of a biography but entertaining and informative about how locally grown healthy food is not out of your reach.

I love a good documentary and I'm all too willing to believe that corporations are stuffing us with unhealthy food. Food Inc. goes a fair way towards demonstrating this. However, I have a spider sense for propaganda, which is why I don't like Michael Moore. Propaganda emphasizes the feelings of individuals instead of talking about impact, highlights individuals instead of using solid statistics, and lets dangerous implications dangle instead of exploring them.

Thus, we learn that there's far much antibiotics in chicken. Is that bad? I don't doubt it, but how? We learn that there were two e.coli outbreaks on one day of filming. Can we get statistics on how many people are hospitalized or die every year? The film says that half of all minorities born in 2000 or later will get diabetes. Firstly, that's a forecast, not a fact. But it's not sourced. Who's making that forecast? The film mentions in an off-hand way that manure gets into beef, then lets it go. How much?

I personally have no problem with processed food or farmers going out of business because of market forces. Why is it a problem that farmers can't rip off Monsanto's seeds? Don't patents expire in 9 years anyway? The film doesn't connect the dots here and doesn't make a good case.

For issues that I have reason to agree with, such as that crop subsidies are clearly bad, the dots aren't there either. The film stops with saying that corn products underlie most of our foods, without saying how that contributes to poor health.

Ultimately, I think Food Inc. has a very compelling topic but just isn't a very clear documentary, unlike Supersize Me and An Inconvenient Truth, which get to the point. I feel educated but I also feel a little manipulated. And the final two minutes are way too preachy. It's very much like the film was not made to convince but to play to an audience that's already convinced. Ironically, one of the people interviewed (the president of Stonybrook Farms) mentions the futility of preaching to the choir.

I'll give Food Inc. a 7 out of 10, sort of a wish-I-hadn't-seen-it 6 with a bonus for being on an important topic.

There have been many documentaries to hit the scene in the past few years that have impacted its audiences in one way or another. Some of become a cultural phenomenon and have hit home especially because it's been things we have experienced either first handed or we ourselves deem them "important." Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine, Super Size Me, and even March of the Penguins are things that we "think" our government places up on top of their priority lists and our filmmakers of today are tackling. I will say this, and I can't see myself saying it again for some time; this is the most terrifying and important documentary I have seen in years.

Telling of the hypocrisy and nearly despicable life we lead everyday because of what corruption does and how far it goes up in our society, Food Inc tackles the subject of the food industry in a way I've never experienced before. There are so many important points that the picture makes, telling them in a film review wouldn't be enough nor do it justice. I can't explain it thoroughly or good enough for any of you to understand. Just know, according to the film, we are living as prisoners in a very scary country. The economy is bad but this has been going on long before it turned downward. This will definitely make you think twice before placing another piece of anything in your mouth.

The film, directed by Robert Lenner, explores all sides of the spectrum. Forget Democrats, Republicans, all of them, this film shows how everybody's hands are dirty. From a death of a child, to a certain governor of California vetoing something that could have changed our perspective on food forever, Food Inc. Tells it all. In the most beautiful and simplistic style of documentary film-making I have seen all year, Kenner's keen eye to detail and structure of the picture is extraordinary. The Documentary Oscar SHOULD belong to Food Inc. period.

Food Inc is so brutal in its delivery yet it remains fundamentally important the entire film. Cheaper food is not the bargain but this food for thought is. Food Inc. is one of the best films of the year.

****/****

This is one of the better politically motivated documentaries i've seen. I agree with what someone mentioned about the ending being a little too preachy... Not only was it too preachy, it watered down the content and the information the film provided (it pretty much ends saying: buy organic and you will save the world and yourself from destruction... what a load of bull Sh@t!) Other than the ending, which was completely unnecessary, the film was great. It basically took Marxist concepts of alienation to analyze the way in which we get food... (it's easy to know what a Frito is but its VERY hard to understand the process in which that Frito is created). It used alienation to scare the crap out of the viewer in a poetic and fact based way. The process behind the manufacturing of a corn chip or a tub of mayonnaise really sheds a light on the way in which our representative "democracy" functions--with industry (in this case Food) becoming the fourth, most powerful branch of government. It becomes clearer each day that America's legacy will be the manufacturing and selling of products which are trash (how many days a week do you open your mailbox to find all you have received is junk mail?) so that a handful of oligarchs can suck the nectar from the teats of the gods. Not only does big business create a system of trash for cash... the government subsidizes it so that these companies can put lots of time and money into trying to convince people like me that their garbage is worth buying. "thanks for nothing" is pretty much the unconscious slogan in every store when the clerk hands you your bag. More films like this need to be made... one's that scare people by simply explaining the systems that affect them on a daily basis. It's too bad the ending just looked like a PR campaign for Wal Mart and big business organics. Its going to take a lot more than boycotting to solve this problem especially during an economic crisis.

I put 10/10 because this information is invaluable. And it's about time a major distributor has taken on such topics. The food industry certainly has it's reasons, especially the almighty dollar, and to be fair I think this movie kept that into perspective. Yet demonetization of these multi-national organizations was inevitable because of the undesirable effects of such gross over production.

The movie was tactful and at times utterly horrifying. To me, this was nothing new. The movie lacked essential information, was riddled with questionable assertions, contained a few logical fallacies, and was completely adulterated with naturalistic philosophy. It also tows the global warming line as well. Aside from it's shortcomings, it is going to be powerful in its own right to those who are new to the subject.

With such backing and credibility, hopefully this can reach those in the darkness. Our modern social climate is inundated with massive propaganda, so much that many have began to seek answers amidst the chaos. To those I hope this is but a small step to a much larger journey. In all assurances, the rabbit hole is much deeper.

The documentary is based on assumptions that size and efficiency are inherently evil. During the 60 minutes of this program not once did the producer try to present the other side of the story. Instead, it never lost a chance to show "so and so company declined our request for an interview" leading us to believe that they must have something to hide so, there it is, they are evil! Well perhaps Mr Kenner the reason they declined was they knew the program will be one-sided and self-serving but we will never know since they did not want to talk to you.

Offers lots of criticism for the food industry yet lacks any practical suggestions or solutions to mass production of food (which does not personally excite me either).

Most of the suggestions are so out of touch with reality, such as having the farmer who prefers slaughtering his few chickens outdoors suggest that we should drive to his farm to buy our food! Wow! Can someone tell this guy that Americans and the rest of the civilized world prefer living in big cities, far away from any farms and that not many generations ago it was every farmer's dream to get out of farm life and move to a big city? Or are we to reverse progress so Mr i-raise-a-few-chickens-the-right-way farmer can feel good about himself? Oh I know, we should relocate all city dwellers to the countryside and save the planet. Afterall, it was done before, in 1976, in Cambodia...

The fact that this documentary had one purpose and one purpose only - to prove the author's firm beliefs (and increase the sales of his books/DVDs) without any real research is obvious throughout the program. One obvious case is the Hispanic family spending $12 to buy meal for four from Burger King and presenting it as if they did not have another choice. I'm no food scientist but I can easily feed all four of them with less than $12 and with food that is not only healthier but is also more culturally familiar to a Hispanic family - namely beans!(my favorite meal). A bag of beans costs $1-3 and easily feeds four people. Oh but of course it's not as convenient as a drive-thru meal! Well, people make the wrong decisions and some big corporations are taking advantage of it. Lets not just blame the corporations if people are in love with junk food.

We are what we eat, we as a nation prefer cheap and fast junk food so cheap junk food is produced and served to us! Unless we assume responsibility for our actions we will be taken advantaged of and suffer as a result.

Following this programs idea that size and industrialization is inherently evil is like saying Ford was evil because he perfected mass production of automobiles. Of course the planet would've been better off without Mr Ford's ideas, so lets all go back to driving horse-drawn carriages!

Mr Kenner ideas are simply ridiculous and typical of a pseudo-intellectual zealot's ideas that are neither sound nor practical and they serve one purpose only - to make the author feel good and smart.

I bet most of the advocates on this documentary drive large SUVs and have the refrigerators well stacked with cheap meat.

This show made a couple of good suggestions at the very end though, 1) teach kids at school about eating healthy and that less is more! 2) Cleanup school cafeterias from junk food. (We have PA meetings all over the country and we can easily change that)

Lets not just take the easy way out and blame our weakness on some corporations because they committed the 'crime' of figuring out how to be more efficient in what they do.

I have a few tips that I try to follow myself. 1) Do not east junk-food, never, just forget that it exists. 2) EAT LESS! 3) EAT A LOT LESS! 4) Stop eating so much meat. I personally eat meat maybe once a week and thats more than enough. 5) Avoid canned foods of any sort. Always! 6) Avoid processed food as much as possible. 6) Do not drink soft drinks, ever! 7) Eat a lot more vegetables! They are not that expensive and if you add the long term health benefits, they are cheaper than junk food. 8) Exercise (just a bit everyday is enough)

And ask you representatives to promote rules/laws that teach kids from a very young age about eating right! If we succeed in raising a generation of kids that tare health conscious, perhaps the big feedlots will disappear as they operate on economies of scale. If people stop eating meat 3 times a day then they will be no animals suffering, till then, blame it all on the meat-loving population - US!

Mr Kenner's unconvincing and unscientific zealotry cause more harm than good.