Index IntroductionFilm AnalysisWorks CitedIntroductionFood Inc. is a documentary film by Robert Kenner. The production of the film involved many, but the most notable is Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma. He acts as a consultant even though the film features him. Produced by Participant media, it took three years to make on a budget of around $1 million. Kenner says it used additional funds to address lawsuits from the documentary's subjects, such as food industry actors. At the box office, the film grossed $4.6 million after its release in 2008 and lasts 94 minutes. It has received largely positive response and has been nominated for numerous awards including the Academy Award and Independent Spirit Awards in 2009. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Film Analysis The film examines industrial food production. In recent centuries, population growth and technological progress have changed food production. Feeding growing numbers of people requires technology and changes in food production techniques. However, industrial food production also has some downsides and the film examines some of them. The negatives affect consumers directly, yet food companies keep such important information hidden. As a result, customers make misleading decisions about their consumption. The goal of the film is to fill this information gap by providing customers with more information about the food they consume. The four major issues faced by the supermarket are the quality of supermarket food and corn, beef, industrial chicken and poultry farming, pork processing, and failures in the role of government. Finally, it looks at practical steps that consumers or ordinary people can take to change things. For example, the company points out that supermarkets buy green tomatoes and ripen them using ethylene gas and customers are unaware of this. Furthermore, scientists do not know the impact of this gas on human health, yet it is widely used in the food industry. The film also reports that the food industry doesn't want customers to know the truth. Another finding of the film is that food companies create the illusion of giving customers a choice, but in reality most food comes from a few crops, mainly corn. Corn's outsized role is due to government subsidies that effectively pay farmers to produce corn. Over-reliance on corn is the driving force behind obesity as consumers consume too much corn and its calories without even realizing it. The same problem is present in beef production where industrial beef production has given major companies a monopoly on food production. However, industrial food production makes foods susceptible to E-coli infection, which is a potent and potentially dangerous pathogen. To address the problem, farmers and industrial food producers must use more antibiotics, which are responsible for antibacterial resistance. Therefore, the activities of industrial food producers are directly responsible for some of the emerging health problems. Ultimately, the government has failed in its role to protect the health of its citizens. Big food companies sell GMO foods as regular food because they won the legal battle against the government. Businesses have gained additional protection, but the common person takes specific measures such as food consumption.
tags