Food Inc.

Source: http://www.eatmedaily.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/food-inc.jpg

After watching Food Inc. for the second time, it really amazes me how much of a hold corporations have on local farmers and producers. Instead of revolutionizing or innovating ideas of how to fix current problems with the agricultural industry, these corporations effortlessly find ways to continue the same dying business model in order to receive a better financial quarter.

Take for instance the farmer who was being sued by Monsanto for allegations of using their patented soy bean crop. By all means I know that Monsanto doesn't have an absolute pristine reputation for their company (I.E. Agent Orange after effects), but by Food Inc. showcasing their financial bullying, their public relations department must have been doing damage control. I felt disgusted that an agricultural farmer would be shown as an example for legal repercussions if any other farmer would follow their own ways of planting or saving seeds. By damaging potential ideas through the justice system, effectiveness and efficiency of the agricultural industry would slowly but surely decline, no matter how many band-aids you put on it.

Another example is the amount of contamination that our food comes into contact with. When Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle in 1906, it changed the way America did food inspections. However, Food Inc. reinforces the fact that these corporations are protected in the legal system since the potential to shut down slaughterhouses that were deemed unsafe by the government was nullified in court. I was in shock; how could something that is considered to be rule number one of preparing and maintaining food be disregarded? Thankfully after a brief search, the Food Safety Modernization Act was passed in 2011, giving back these powers to the FDA.

Source:http://bioprepwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/FDA.jpg