Food Inc DVD – A Food Inc Review

I don’t think I have ever done a DVD review here before. Frankly it would not be much to do with being self sufficient if I did. Yesterday we watched a movie that I think everyone should watch, especially anyone interested in food production, animal welfare or becoming more self sufficient.

If you want to raise your own animals for meat but your partner is unsure then get them to watch this film and you will very likely be off buying some baby chicks to rear for meat the very next morning.

Now, in typical self sufficient style we didn’t actually buy the DVD if I am honest. No, rather, as Ian Lee would say we borrowed it from a cousin Don Load.

There are spoilers in this review so if you don’t want to know the general outline then look away now although it will make no difference to the viewing of this very important film.

Basically we are being given an overview of just how our food is produced. Gone are the days of the smallholder, this is big business and about as nasty as it comes. Food, Inc really highlights what I suspect we all know and that we are basically controlled without really admitting it. What I found really scary in the film was the example made by a family trying to struggle to feed their family.

There is something seriously wrong with the world when it is cheaper to by a burger from McDonalds than it is to buy a head of broccoli.

Worrying facts were that so much agricultural land is now committed to corn. And not just any corn but Monsanto corn. Now, this corn has a patent for part of the seed. The result? No farmer is allowed to save their own seed and plant it the following year. They have to buy it every year from Monsanto. Even farmers that did not intentionally grow the seed but it had travelled from neighbours were facing financial ruin because it was found to be growing on their land.

This is nothing compared to the scary fact that so much beef is being produced in entirely artificial ways. Cows are being fed corn rather than grass for the most part in the US, which is mental. E Coli strains are appearing because of this that are extremely dangerous.

What I found very shocking was the fact that in each hamburger you eat you probably have a minimum of meat from a few thousand cows in just that burger. This vastly increases the risk of all manner of contamination problems and it was highlighted that during just one of the many minced beef recalls in the US of late enough meat was recalled to have given the entire country a burger.

With chickens being bred to produce the maximum amount of white meat and being killed at less than 60 days we are at the point that they cannot even walk more than a few steps because their bone structure simply cannot handle the forced growth.

Hamburger filler that is in at least 70% of burgers is bleached with ammonia to destroy E Coli rather then feed cows on grass so the risk is lowered.

13 slaughterhouses in the US controlling nearly all meat production rather than the thousands it used to be.

Monsanto shutting down old timers who go around cleaning seed because they “might” be cleaning corn with their patent.

The list goes on and on.

A truly scary film to watch and one that I think is required viewing.

Big business is entirely out of hand and our lives are being controlled. Big Brother really is watching.

The whole US food system is so corrupt it is not even funny. Of course, the rest of the world won’t be far behind.

Much as I hated killing the chickens that we reared for meat and vowed never to do it again I am going to take a long hard look at just what we eat and where it comes from. I wonder where we can buy a Cow?

Buy the DVD and watch a very important film. It was a real eye opener and I think it is something that we should all watch. Don’t get me wrong there were some great moments where we were shown the beginnings of a change by the big Supermarkets. As demand for Organic and more naturally raised meat grows they are changing their ways.

It is down to the consumer to insist on proper food and the producers will follow. It comes to something when a burger is cheaper than a small serving of broccoli.