Have you seen the documentary 'Food Inc' about the food industry in America?

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   LongTimeMotherposted 12 years ago

   Have you seen the documentary 'Food Inc' about the food industry in America?
   
   It was on tv here late at night recently. I bought a copy of the DVD so my husband could watch it. I am wondering if many other people have seen it, and what was your reaction?

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   Anna Evanswoodposted 12 years ago

   Yes i have seen it.  It was disturbing. Unfortunately we seemed to have learnt nothing if the horse meat saga from the UK is anything to go by. People seem unwilling to pay the true price for food and as such will accept many additives  and even substitutes.  China seems constantly be in the news for food safety issues.
   
   What I have learned from this video is that its best to buy high welfare meat or be vegetarian. Also to make as much as you can from scratch. Do your research on additives and make informed decisions as a consumer.

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      LongTimeMotherposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I lived in the UK for years and never once ate red meat there. Mad cow disease led the news bulletin when I arrived. I eat meat in Australia from a local butcher who sources local healthy animals.

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   JimTxMillerposted 12 years ago

   Probably have as I have watched several food-related documentaries. Like nearly everything else in the U.S., we have allowed food production to become Big Business, more about raising profit than raising nutritious food. If we have learned anything, it's that chemically driven agriculture supports chemical producers, marketers, their boards and shareholders and bankers. Americans spend less for food and more for health care than any other people in the world. Think about that, and it's easy to see we have things turned upside down.

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      LongTimeMotherposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I cried watching this doco. It should be compulsory viewing for every American politician.

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   renegadetoryposted 12 years ago

   I watched it with my daughter, along with other food documentaries such as forks over knives... we've gone vegan as a result.  I have never felt better and I don't see myself going back to eating meat, dairy or fish.
   
   Though I live in Canada, I hope that things change in the US so that less decisions are made by people with ties to industry and more by people who are independent of the system, though I highly doubt that will ever happen.

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      LongTimeMotherposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Vegan is challenging with kids. Just out of interest, how does your daughter cope when visiting friends? I make gluten free meals for one little girl who comes here.
      My husband is vegetarian. No meat but he happily eats our free range eggs.

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      renegadetoryposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      She copes ok, most of her friends know she is vegan and her friends parents are pretty good about having some kind of veggies for her to eat if she is staying for dinner.  I often have food for her to take with her too.

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   ExpectGreatThingsposted 12 years ago

   I watched it and forced my husband to watch it as well. We immediately started buying everything from our farmer's market and local butcher.
   
   I hope I don't start any arguments here, but a few months later I asked my farming relatives in Oklahoma what they thought of the documentary. They were appalled. My grandparents are cattle farmers, and my cousin harvests lots of different kinds of crops. They think he went waaaay overboard on the documentary. They (and everyone they know) are still raising/growing real food.
   
   Do changes need to be made in our food industry? Yes. Should we all stop eating fast food? Definitely. But let's try to not to go to some crazy extreme and say that farmers are no longer producing real food and are not in control of what they grow.

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      LongTimeMotherposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for commenting ExpectGreatThings. I am glad that your relatives are still independent farmers. I wonder if their healthy animals are mixed with everyone else's at one of those big slaughter houses. I hope not. Good luck to them. Thanks.

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   hrymelposted 12 years ago

   Yeah, I spend a large amount of my time watching documentaries, especially food related ones.  I like to know the different arguments and sides.
   
   To be honest, I grew up in the country and I know how animals are raised and butchered, and it never bothered me, but there was two things I was not well educated on. 1) That the majority of the meat I ate was not raised like the cows in the fields down the road. 2)The huge amount that the antibiotics and steroids in the cows food affects our bodies.
   
   We've recently became flexitarians, and try to add more and more whole foods, especially local vegetables and fruits. Plus we've began putting a greater influence on buying from farmer's markets and CSAs.

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      LongTimeMotherposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I agree. Humane butchering is one thing. The footage in this doco was very disturbing. It particularly bothered me that when they have an outbreak of disease or food poisoning in the US, huge amounts of food must be recalled and wasted.

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   Bryan W Coleposted 12 years ago

   Yes, it's eye-opening. Got to feel for all those farmers. They work long, hard hours too and get shafted by the gov. (no pun intended).

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      LongTimeMotherposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, the chicken farmer's story was so sad. The corn farmer did a brilliant job of answering questions while trying to keep himself out of trouble. And the story of the man who harvested seeds was heartbreaking. The govt should be looking after them.

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