Food Inc. Why you can change the world by how you shop.
On my third viewing of Food Inc., I thought I’d write a few lines for those who haven’t yet seen it. The more I watch films like this the more I realise that this is not just about food, but how a handful of people hold global power, and the quicker we wake up to this realisation the better.
Let me expand. How many slaughterhouses do you suppose there are in the US? You’d think, hundreds, thousands wouldn’t you? You’d be so wrong. Its 13 – yep THIRTEEN. Now what does that tell you? It should tell you that there are very few people controlling the food industry and that is a worry on many levels.
Feeding cows corn, rather than grass, has left us with an e.coli epidemic. If the cows ate grass this wouldn’t happen. E.coli is acid resistant and has evolved solely due to the change in diet fed to the animals. It’s found its way into the food chain and is killing people quite literally. Corn is cheap. This is about money, and it goes straight to the Whitehouse. The “revolving door” scenario is endemic. This eludes to the fact that the very people who are meant to protect us, are on the boards of the very businesses destroying not only “farming” but people’s lives. Advertisements are put out in Mexico to hire illegal immigrants to work in these super slaughterhouses. They work in conditions that are so far removed from what we consider humane, for wages so low and then when found out, they are arrested and the companies just turn their backs.
McDonalds is the largest purchaser of not only meat, pork, chicken, but tomatoes, apples and lettuce and all the food they sell has to be uniform. It has to be the SAME – all over the world. UNIFORMITY has serious consequences. Just think about it a minute – how do they get all their food the same – what are they doing behind the scenes?
The food industry in the US is run by a handful of people – it’s a massive factory on a scale that no one ever thought they would see. It is NOT farming. Farmers don’t come into the equation, and any farmer trying to grow soybeans that are not Monsanto is put on a list and has a little visit from men in blackened out cars, who blackmail and threaten.
The health problems in the US have been created by all this and no one seems to care as long as the dollar signs keep pouring in.
People say “I have no power”, “what can I do”?. The irony is we have ALL the power. If you stop buying the muck, if you say NO, in larger enough numbers they will have to change.
It’s not as bad here in the UK but the principles are the same. You deserve good quality food but to do that you have to vote with you shopping basket. Make food your top priority and then we may see a change.