Entry EC, Food Inc.

 *The following post is satire, and not my personal opinion:

Image Source: IMDB

Corporate America -- where there is no shortage of food and microbial life flourishes. We are fortunate to live in a time where the government cares enough to defend our agricultural industry and protects us from dangerous information that may cause  widespread panic. The average consumer doesn't know enough about biology to make informed decisions on their own, and thankfully the FDA has strong ties with the biggest names in the food industry to be able to make those decisions for us. 

I recently came across a documentary that walks the line of conspiracy and threatens to provoke fear and distrust in our nation's consumer culture. Food Inc. attempts to lift an imaginary veil between the ignorant consumer and the industry that works tirelessly to create cheap, accessible, and consistent food. The film attempts to convince viewers that the nation’s food industry has been consumed by corporations and how that negatively impacts our farms, health, and environment. It attacks the FDA, food safety, food production, and large-scale animal processing plants. The film maker, Robert Kenner (who I should remind you is NOT an expert in biology or agriculture) points a dissident finger at our country's most successful corporations, scientists, and government. Needless to say, Kenner's ad hominem approach has failed to convince me.

There is a certain comfort that comes with having such a large corporation as Monsanto owning the rights to seeds. It almost feels like living with your parents. Just because you eat the food they buy, doesn’t make it your food. They worked tirelessly to put food on your plate and all Robert Kenner can do is complain about the quality? These corporations have one goal in mind, and that is to "feed the world." Thanks to corporate giants like Tyson, ADM, and Monsanto, their decades of bio-engineering and billions of dollars spent on scientific research has allowed our population to grow exponentially without fear of ever going hungry.

The documentary also attacks the production of corn in America. Our government subsidizes corn and farmers are able to grow so much of the crop that we have it in excess. I fail to see the issues here. Science has produced extraordinary advancements in the realm of corn based products. Our grocery stores are fully stocked with cheap and delicious snacks and the corn-based syrups preserve our otherwise perishable items well past their expiration dates. Through “clever rearrangements of corn,” only a handful of farmers are able to feed the world, and with great variety too!

Image Source: Cleveland Clinic

Something I find ironic is that this documentary "sheds a light" on animal cruelty. If chickens or cows were higher up on the evolutionary ladder than us, wouldn't they mass produce humans and fry our legs and eat our eggs? Besides, if we were really so cruel, why are the animals so well fed? We harvest so much corn that we even have enough to feed to our live-stock. All I saw in the the "raw hidden camera footage" was animals living low-effort lives and eating as much food as they want.

Then there is the argument of corn-fed cows being breeding grounds for E-Coli. Why does everyone get so upset when a virus is thriving? Especially vegetarians… A virus is a living organism, too. We are giving viruses an opportunity to evolve at extraordinary rates by feeding cows corn and keeping tens of thousands of cows in one place covered in feces. Besides, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. I say, bring it on.

Image Source: NY Daily News

By the end of the documentary, Robert Kenner's "Food Inc." successfully refreshed my opinion on the food industry -- Ignorance is bliss. The FDA and corporations are doing us a favor by keeping a veil over our agricultural industry. They don't want to cause any unnecessary panic among the consumer population. Our grocery stores are stocked and our bellies are full; I see no reason why we should point a finger at the industry or capitalism.