Controversial Food Documentary ‘Food Inc.’ Opens Today

Looking for something to do this weekend? Food documentary, ‘Food Inc.’ opens today in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. According to the official press release, the film is described as “lifting 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 Farm’s Gary Hirshberg 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.

The documentary has received a number of positive reviews from foodies across the nation, though it’s obviously not supported by the ‘Big Ag’ industry. Writer Jill Richardson of Daily Kos posted a bit of pesticide producer Monsanto’s response to the film:

Throughout this film, Food, Inc.:

• Demonizes American farmers and the agriculture system responsible for feeding over 300 million people in the United States.
• Presents an unrealistic view of how to feed a growing nation while ignoring the practical demands of the American consumer and the fundamental needs of consumers around the world.
• Disregards the fact that multiple agriculture systems should – and do – coexist.

The film opens today at the following theatres, with  more to follow:
Embarcadero Center Cinema 5, San Francisco, CA
Nuart Theatre, West Los Angeles, CA
Film Forum, New York, NY

For more on Monsanto, check out the Organic Consumers Association’s “Millions Against Monsanto” campaign.

~Jennifer Heigl