Food, Inc.: HuffPost Bloggers Weigh In (Video)

Food, Inc. is a movie everybody's talking about, which opens today in New York, LA and San Fransisco. The film explores the dark underbelly of the what actually goes into that piece of chicken, soda, hamburger or chips that we often don't think twice about popping into our mouths. "The industry doesn't want you to know the truth about what you are eating, because if you did, you might not want to eat it," the trailer intones. But the film cannot be dismissed as merely alarmist propaganda. Food, Inc. vividly and accurately details how agriculture policy, government agencies and corporations work in confluence to perpetuate our food system in its current form, and all the ills -- from public health crises to environmental damage -- that go with it. Do you happen to eat food? Then this movie's for you.

Check out what HuffPost bloggers are saying about the film, and watch the trailer below.

Paula Crossfield : Food, Inc. Gets Rave Reviews, Big Ag Shudders:

Today, Food, Inc. debuts: it is certainly not a film to miss. Big Ag realizes that the tide is turning on the corporate control of our food system, and that their message is in jeopardy.

Kerry Trueman: Food, Inc.: The Silence of the Yams:

Robbie Kenner didn't mean to make a horror film when he started working on Food, Inc.. But you can't shine a light on our food chain without exposing some ugly truths.

John Farr: Righteous Indigestion: Why Food, Inc. Must Be Seen:

The folksy Frank Perdue is long gone, my friends, but his chemically altered chickens live on! For this reason alone, Food, Inc. demands to be seen.

Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald: Greed in the Seed: The "Inconvenient Truth" of How Food Gets to Your Table Revealed in Food, Inc.:

Food, Inc. is a film whose time has come. With the economic meltdown and the change at the White House, people are demanding more transparency and accountability from those in charge.

Marshall Fine: HuffPost Review: Food, Inc.:

Food, Inc. is a hard movie to enjoy. Not that it's not well-made. Just the opposite: It's so convincingly compelling.

Isabel Cowles: Reclaiming America, Bite by Bite:

The food industry has shifted from a broad network of producers and consumers towards a handful of corporate giants that control food culture not only in the grocery store, but also on the farm and on Capitol Hill.

Tracy Helper: You Are What You Eat: Food, Inc. Brings Food to the Forefront:

Looking at today's society it seems clear that when it comes to our food and nutrition, our priorities are out of whack. We need a wake up call and Food, Inc. is just that.

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Comments

[Conk]

10:14 AM on 07/02/2009

This movie will wake a few, but will have no lasting impact. Agri-business is too large, too rich, and too influencial. Consumers must demand better through use of their dollars. Congress won't intervene and maybe they should not. It's a personal choice to eat garbage or not. The media should expose more of this type stuff though.

Anyway, the problem is far worse than this movie shows. HFCS, Aspartame, MSG, refined and processed 'foods', sugar, corn, GM foods, processed milk, soy products. Get rid of them all by not purchasing them. Eat what Mother Nature provides us, unaltered. Live long and healthful lives!

[Tim303]

09:47 PM on 06/16/2009

Finally. I was hoping Marion Nestle's ideas would see the light of day.

[looking4thelight]

06:21 PM on 06/16/2009

I am glad for any information that is helpful. I grow what I can and try to buy the healthy things. As some people said earlier, it's not always clear on the box or can what you are really buying. I try to eat out as little as possible. My feeling is, they will serve you anything .....maybe they don't even know the quality themselves.

Can anyone tell me, is microwaving food dangerous or is this just a rumor? Thanks and everybody stay healthy!

[MediaSlackers]

09:28 AM on 06/16/2009

Good little collection of reviews from people who have yet to see the movie. However, from looking at the preview and watching a couple of interviews with the producers (namely the NOW interview on PBS which was decent), I am also looking forward to watching it and hopefully learning something new. In the meantime, I would suggest everyone watch Peter Jennings' report from 2003 entitled, "How to Get Fat Without Really Trying" as well as the upcoming movie, "Food Matters" which includes the ills of big pharma.

[loki]

03:10 AM on 06/16/2009

Not to long ago the Gov ruled that meat and veggie products had to have country of origin printed on the label so consumers could see where it came from. Well apparently like everything else the Gov does, they left huge loopholes for the corporations to take advantage of because I have noticed that the labels now state " This product comes from either Mexico, United States , Canada. or other country"
Now how the heck are we suppose to know where it comes from ??

[Roberto Alamos]

08:07 PM on 06/15/2009

can't wait to see this film here on latam also!

[SteveMI]

05:31 PM on 06/15/2009

What if there was a cool place that like had no 'corporate death food', no Big Oil, no 'Corporate media' in fact no greedy wasteful capitalists of any kind - hey! North Korea!- these people are totally green, in fact they have never even seen a McDonalds hamburger or a can of coke, only tree bark and grass! They have the collective carbon footprint of a pencil sharpner! These are the hippest coolest people ever! Our country is just so evil man, we just eat what the man from the BIG AG industrial complex tells us.. .

.. Oh wait my Mom's calling me out of the basement for desert... angel food cake... with 7 minute frosting? from Sarah Lee? Are you trying to kill me? what sort of conformist do you take me for?, go out and dig me up some grubs you spiteful old witch!

[WillWilson]

01:27 PM on 06/15/2009

It's not just "monsanto" vs "good food." Our present population depends on present high production, which relies on all manner of technologies, including plant breeding, technology, and fertilizers. Our use of fossil-fuel produced fertilizers caused major changes in urban/agricultural land-use patterns, even putting family farms out of business. I show relevant plots at:
http://www.sciencetime.org/blog/?p=213
along with our massive use of energy:
http://www.sciencetime.org/blog/?p=116
Making these changes will be, as Al Gore said, inconvenient.

Will Wilson

[realgreengirl]

08:36 AM on 06/15/2009

If you are towing the "we'll starve to death on organics" then you are towing the Monsanto party line. It's wrong and untrue. Think for yourself and do your own research that is not bought and paid for by Monsanto. GMO wheat is about to make it through and we need to put the breaks on this too. Does anyone even know this? Thanks to Food Inc, we know a little more that goes on behind the scenes. There's much more to know More importantly, see the movie first.

[Photofarm]

06:18 PM on 06/15/2009

If you forced every farmer to farm organic, you would have food shortages and starvation. That is just reality, not Monsanto talking.

[ashleelisbeth]

06:43 PM on 06/14/2009

i'm assuming this is sort of in the vein of the omnivore's dilemma.

[Photofarm]

05:48 PM on 06/14/2009

I'm sure this movie is not very accurate, and forgets that the reason we have the system we have today is to solve problems that were there in 1920 or 1940 or 1960 or 1980 or 2000.

Erosion has dropped a lot in the last 20 years, and the main reason is the use of chemical herbicides to control weeds over tillage. More chemicals are put on lawns and golf courses than on farm fields.

If you forced every farmer to only raise organic food, you would have mass starvation in the United States and the world.

[BobWills]

08:16 PM on 06/14/2009

You really don't know what you're talking about, as evidenced by the fact that you are trashing a movie that you've never even seen. I'll just make one recommendation: start reading the labels of everything that you intend to put in your mouth. Notice how many times sugar and salt appear. Also corn sweetener. I've had real organic food and there is no comparison to the crap found in your average big box food store. Also look around you as you shop at the sheer size of the customers. I was in a restaurant yesterday and saw a family of four that, collectively, must have weighed in at around 800 pounds. The kids were about 6-8 years old. This in the metropolitan Philadelphia area.

[Photofarm]

10:20 PM on 06/14/2009

I actively farm, and have for 30 years. I've seen organic crap, just like quality is not always that great with conventional food.

The real problem is that most people are not buying raw ingredients and cooking at home. They are buying heavily processed foods that have preservatives added to increase shelf life.

[Conk]

10:16 AM on 07/02/2009

So, the choice is to starve or be poisoned?

[Ryoki]

11:16 AM on 06/14/2009

And what makes you think people care what they eat? If it tastes good and it's cheap they'll eat it. No matter what it's made from. Most young people I know eat nothing but the worst corperate death foods with little concern for it's origin or effects on their health.
" So what that (favorite food) will cause ( cancer, high blood pressure, obesity, etc.). Everything kills you these days. And it tastes good." I've heard this line a thousand times. Anyone saying this is not going to pay to see this.They will have to be forced to the theater at gun point ( or bribed with promises of a trip to the snackbar) and after it's over they are not likely to change their diet.
Go to any fast food franchise ( I never call them restaurants) and look at the customers. If they can't see the effects of this poison on their own bodies, what can you show or say to them that would make them change their ways?

[loki]

03:27 AM on 06/16/2009

have you ever considered that many younger people dont see much of a reason to worry about living to a ripe old age as some older people want? After all, what do they really have to look forward to? Working their butts off for a life time only to make IVy Greed Capitalist rich? Owing so much they will have to work 2 jobs just to stay afloat? Global warming. war, endless servitude to the elite rich either with work or in the way of bailouts with tax money, and just the fact you will have to now work until your 80 just to pay the medical bills , why bother with living healthy. Im a half century old, and I am really starting to agree with an older neighbor of mine who says that getting older just means your one step closer to getting out of the dung hole called life. Are we really suppose to be here to work ourselves to death for a few elites to life life to its fullest? I would do the same if I was younger and didnt have others so dependent on me. live life hard and full, and hope you die before your 30. At least if there is less to make the elite wealthier, then they might have to see what the rest of us live like and start to be more, Human, dare I say it. Sarcasm?

[Greenguy25]

11:02 AM on 06/14/2009

Of course government pulls the strings with this industry, it is our nations largest export. Even if 100% of americans changed their food habits, it wont change a thing because the world population is growing to fast and all these people need to eat and I'm guessing that a starving child in Africa is not going to turn up his nose at a processed chicken.

Lets focus on fighting battles we can actually make progress with, like our countries energy policy.

Go Renewable Energy

http://www.mygreenscene.com

[BobWills]

08:17 PM on 06/14/2009

And you don't see the connection?!?!?!?!!?

[Tags]

01:30 AM on 06/14/2009

Read Michele Simon's book "Appetite for Profit."

The list of industry front groups alone is worth the price.

[longnow]

09:30 PM on 06/13/2009

Yes and the gutting of Big Tobacco cost Gore his own state and gave
us 8 yrs of Gearge Butch (southern pronunciation on CSPAN)
and President Cheney. Was it worth it?
Difficult to say b/c I don't smoke.