FOOD, Inc. is an unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry. The feature-length movie, not yet on YouTube, ties directly into our work protecting people from corporate abuse in the homebuilding industry. It also reinforces the message behind the Canadian documentary, The Corporation, which explains why so many powerful corporations focus more on profits than human interests. FOOD, Inc. graphically shows the power that big corporations have over the political process and pits the corporate elite against society: food processors vs. consumers, banks vs. taxpayers, insurance companies vs. policy holders, builders vs. homeowners, etc. I came away from this movie feeling like the corn-fed chickens and livestock – raised (and educated) to serve the special interests of Corporate America, which has sadly become a group of multinational sociopaths.

This is a “must watch” movie, and here’s my notes from watching it:

• The top 4 beef packers control 80% of the market. (Tyson=#1, Beef Products Inc. (BPI), National Beef, IBP)
• • Farmers are kept in debt and under the thumb of these monstrous corporations, and the debt keeps rising.
  • Just 2 chicken houses = $500K in debt but just $18K/yr in income
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• 30% of the U.S. land base is used for Corn Farming. Corn & Soy Beans are (1) storable, (2) subsidized, and (3) genetically engineered.
• • 90% of food products have corn or soy.
  • Cheap corn is a staple diet of livestock, because it makes them grow and fatten quickly. It’s now also promoted as a source of fuel.
  • Corn-fed livestock raised in contained spaces develop drug-resistant E. Coli bacteria.
  
  
• Regulatory Agencies are controlled by Food Processing industry executives. US Supreme Court justice Thomas was general counsel for one of them.
• • There are now far fewer inspections of food processing (50K ten years ago vs. 5K now).
  • The industry is Self-Policing because the agencies watching it have no enforcement “teeth.”
  • Kevin’s Law would allow the FDA to shut down contaminated processing plants, but after years of fighting it still hasn’t passed.
  • The FDA continues to protect the food industry more than the consuming public (just like current laws protect builders more than homeowners).
  
  
• The “One Dollar” Menu is popular because the food choices are Cheap and Fast, and because people have no time to cook.
• • Fresh Produce cost ($/pound) is far more expensive than processed food, because processed food is Subsidized.
  • The whole food system is subsidized and skewed in favor of Bad Calories. This hurts low income families the most.
  • Humans are naturally attracted to Salt, Sugar & Fat, but so much of it hurts our bodies.
  
  
• Observation: By “raised & educated to serve corporations,” I mean “look at all of the MBA’s. We need more research scientists (PhDs) and skilled workers (associate degrees from Community Colleges).
• • Corporations don’t worry about animal cruelty since the animals are temporary and soon will be slaughtered. Likewise, they treat employees like disposable commodities with layoffs, low pay, meager benefits (healthcare, retirement), etc.
  • Corporations don’t live with negative consequences of their decisions; they’re rewarded when risks pan out, but they’re rarely punished when they don’t. Employees are an expense just like food production.
  • Corporate growth objectives affect their values and how they view customers, products, and service.
  
  
• Organics are gaining in popularity, although slowly. It has to be presented with Business benefits.
• • Often, the same consumer at a Farmers’ Market that complains about paying $3 for a dozen eggs is there drinking a $1 can of Coke!
  • But Wal-Mart is starting to carry organics, because the Total Cost economics benefits their bottom line, and because consumers are starting to ask for it.
  
  
• US Supreme Court in 1980 said you can now “patent life” as companies like Monsanto fought to protect their “intellectual property rights” from engineered seeds and gene pools, including cloning.
• • Monsanto aggressively investigates and prosecutes “seed saving” as a patent infringement. Their objective is to force farmers to buy Monsanto seed each time they plant and not save any for next season.
  • Monsanto now controls food production from Seed to Supermarket.
  • Monsanto has strong political ties to Bush, Clinton, EPA, FDA and US Supreme Court (Justice Thomas).
  
  
• The big food processing corporations  don’t people to know what’s in food, and they’ve made it ILLEGAL to speak out against their industry.
• • It’s now illegal to publish photos of food processing, and the crew filming FOOD, Inc. was not allowed inside chicken coops.
  • Corporations file expensive lawsuits to strong-arm competition and silence criticism. Oprah Winfrey spent 5 years and $1M fighting a libel when she criticized the beef industry. She eventually won but is soured from the experience.
  
  
• Nutritious food costs more to buy, but  the Total Cost is less.
• • From an Oprah show:
    Better food = better health (i.e. less medication + less weight + more energy + more creativity + more productivity) = more GDP.