Tow #28-Documentary Part 1

      Food, Inc. is a 2008 documentary by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser that analyzes corporate farming methods in the United States.The documentary stresses how Americans are so far removed from the actual source of the food they consume that most do not know where their food came from. It also illustrates how mass farming methods over the years have become increasingly more unhealthy and the majority of the market has become concentrated in the hands of four main/large companies (Tyson, Cargills, Smithfield, and Perdue). The first part of the film is about the meat production industry, the second part is about grains and vegetables, and the third portion of the documentary deals with the economics. The intended audience is for the average American consumer, but also extends to the four main companies themselves, all of which refused to be interviewed. In this documentary, Pollan and Schlosser use appeals to pathos and facts from primary sources to show how mass food production methods (a large portion of which is for the benefit of fast food companies) in the United States is, inhumane for animals, unhealthy for consumers, and exploitative of workers and farmers.
      Throughout the documentary are scenes of the conditions animals are kept in before being slaughtered for meat. Many of these images show severely cramped, unhygienic conditions. Most of these images are used as appeals to the pathos of the audience, since it is highly likely that the majority of viewers are against animal abuse. For example, one primary source, Carole Morison, a Perdue grower, allowed Pollan to view the inhumane chicken house conditions on the land she managed owned by Perdue. She said that, "“It is nasty in here. There is dust flying everywhere, there is feces everywhere. This isn't farming, this is mass production just like in a factory." However, the conditions the animals are kept in aren't the only thing inhumane about the industry. In the case of these chickens, they are fed and bred to encourage rapid instead of natural growth, so they will become fatter and ready-to-eat sooner. Yet, “their bones and internal organs cannot keep up with the rapid growth.” The consequence is that the birds are often in pain or can barely walk.
      The majority of this documentary consists of interviews of primary sources; people who have first hand knowledge of the facts about the mass food production methods occurring in America. Many of these interviews provide evidence of how unhealthy the results of corporate farming are for consumers. A segment was shot of  Allen Trenkle, a Ruminant Nutrition Expert at Iowa State University examining the contents of a live cow (painlessly for the cow) who was being fed a diet of cheap corn. In the stomach he found millions of dangerous e-coli bacteria. This is because when cows, whose natural diet is grass, are fed corn (which is cheaper for the large companies), it results in the evolution of acid-resistant e-coli. The bacteria then becomes part of the meat that is packaged and sold in stores and restaurants. One tragic case of this was Barbara Kowalcyk, food safety advocate, whose son died at 2 1/2 of e-coli found in hamburger. New cases of meat-related illness are being reported daily. Another reason why mass food production is detrimental to consumers' health is because, in most cases, the less nutritious a food is, the less expensive it is.  For example, you can buy a whole hamburger at a fast food place for 99 cents, but you cannot buy even a head of broccoli at the grocery store for the same price. According to Pollan, this is because, "we have skewed our food system to the bad calories" because the bad calories are cheaper to produce.
        The last segment of the video is devoted to the economics of the corporate farming business. These large companies like Smithfield and Tyson are exploitative of their workers and farmers. The farmers are kept bound to these large companies because of debts, and workers in the companies' factories are often composed of the poor minorities of the population (e.g. immigrants). These companies often pay only minimum wage, and do not pay enough attention to safety precautions in their factories. Most of these factories like a Smithfield slaughterhouse that was secretly videotaped by workers provide very poor conditions for both workers and animals. One worker reports there being "blood, urine, and feces everywhere" and that getting injured or sick was a high possibility.
      Pollan and Schlosser want to make the American people more aware of how their food comes to be at their tables. Even "Farm Fresh" products are produced by mostly the same few companies that hold a virtual monopoly over the industry. The fact that none of the major companies would allow themselves to be interviewed, and even discouraged their farmers' to refuse interviews, begs the question of what they have to hide. However, this is not the focus of the documentary. The focus of the documentary is to highlight how dis-attached Americans are to the source of their food, and to inform American consumers across the country of how these mass food production methods are inhumane towards animals, harmful to consumers themselves (especially consumers of fast food, i.e. the majority of the nations), and how the major corporate farming consolidations exploit their farmers and workers.