Has anyone seen Food, Inc?

Ryan and I jus****ched this documentary on Thursday night and oh my gosh - I feel like I need to be my own public service announcement to get people to watch this.  For anyone that has netflix, it's on the instant cue.  The documentary is only 94 minutes long but covers so much!  PBS is airing it on April 21st .

Overall, I feel lucky that we now live in PA with the farmer's markets everywhere and that the grocery stores I go to carry a somewhat decent amount of organic and unaltered food.  But I'm sure there is so much more I can do!

Below is the synopsis from the PBS website:
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli — the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation"), Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore's Dilemma") along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farms' Gary Hirschberg and Polyface Farms' Joe Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising — and often shocking truths — about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

Take most documentaries with a grain of salt until you throughly do your own research. Many have their own agenda and make the data and research fit that agenda.
Michael Moore aka human scum is one example of that.

Pollan is from the left coast so I`m sorry if I already have a bias asks the question "what is the government doing about obesity?" Hmmm, I guess as a Berkley grad the concept of personal responsibility escapes him. Sorry but these documentary makers and authors are also in it for profit.

I spent a lot of years hauling sanitizers and disinfectants to food producers and farm supply places across the US and have seen first hand many of the differences between the various producers.

Thanks for the post.  I always like to look at different documentaries. 

I watched it and it has changed my way of thinking about food. I was already leaning towards cruelty free food and less processed foods. I know you should take documentaries with a grain of salt, however I do believe that the main premise of the movie holds water, Their research is solid.

I like you am so happy i live in a place where i can get my food if i choose to from the source,
We do alot of our shopping at local farmers markets, Everyday on the road i see the chicken trucks and my heart breaks. Now it breaks even more because i have seen how they put them in the cages.

I gaurantee that clean food eating makes a huge differece, Melissa you would probably like clean eating magazine. check it out

"We do alot of our shopping at local farmers markets,"

Nothing about Amish farming is pain free or clean.

not all farmers are amish. Killing any animal is not pain free. What I disagree with is, the way they handle, package and transport, and then mass slaughter. I can go down the road to my local farm market. See the cow in the field. and then buy the grass fed beef in the same location.
There are no perfect solutions but I dont have to support mass production and corporations that prey on consumers and farmers themselves. I mean come on they are adding amonia to the ground beef.

Ok - you've posted pointed critiques of others' choices, but say nothing about what YOU do as an alternative.  If you've figured it all out, as you imply, what do you eat and where do you source it?

Just curious.

A debate is much more interesting when both sides contribute actual information rather than simply telling the other side they're "wrong" or "uninformed." 

karen

I`ve been fortunate to be involved in an industry that allowed me to get first had looks at the insides of many industries. More like undercover looks because I was on a guided tour and many times had access to areas not everybody gets to see. Everything from hauling Reichards fertilizer to farms, hauling turkeys out of Arkansas, sanitizers to Ken`s Foods in Marlboro Ma, and just about every food plant in Eastern US. Some places scare me some impress me. I used to go into a meat plant in (if I remember right) Arnold Pa. Probably the cleanest plant I`ve been in with more rules and the best QC department. Ironically they supply McDonald's with sausage. I`ve been in a premium lunch meat plant in Brooklyn NY that is known for their high quality.......didn`t impress me. I`m pretty sure our food supply is as safe as it`s ever been in history. Do I agree with everything being done to our food supply? Nope but there is also a huge risk in using what we "think" is holistic/raw unsampled untested foods too. When you buy at a farmers market do you know if the farm was in a place with heavy metals in the soil, had fecal matter washed across the fields from heavy rains because of nearby farm animals?
For me I use a Pennsylvania based grocery store. Weis out of Sunbery Pa. They sell many Pa products and I watch the ingredient list. .

Interesting - like Nicole I try and avoid the over processed. I have heard many times to shop the outside ring of the grocery store. No matter what one it is this is where the produce, meat and dairy is. Of course there are things that we need "in the middle" but I try and make everything from scratch these days - especially with baby on the way.

Thanks for sharing and I'll try to remember to check it out on PBS.