Food Inc

Hello!

               So recently in my AP Language and Composition class we’ve been watching a documentary called “Food Inc.” This documentary is about the industrial food industry of today and also discusses the small-farm based society of the past. Throughout the film and throughout the discussion our class had on the topic, a few things kept popping into my mind.

               The first thing that concerned me about the documentary was the fact that it only presents one side of the argument. Throughout the entire film they never refuted their counterarguments, which is ridiculous. You cannot trust any documentary that doesn’t show both sides of an argument. For example, in the film they talked about a business called Monsanto. This company produces a pesticide and a brand of soybean which resists this pesticide, a very good combination for soybean farmers. The film complained that it was unfair of Monsanto to patent these soybeans, because it forces people to buy their product. I don’t really believe that’s unfair, because it’s just an attempt for them to make money - it helps run the American economy!

               Another example of this film being less fair than it could be is when a woman begins talking about e-coli. E-coli is an illness that can be passed to humans through a variety of means, including unsanitary conditions in the meat-production industry. Although this information was very objectively given, the woman giving the information proceeds to talk about her child, a young boy who died of this illness. Lots of heart-wrenching pictures are shown, and it’s all just very sad. This is unfair in my opinion, because too much emphasis is put on this one aspect of the story – almost half an hour worth of this kid. This blatant appeal to pathos is obvious if you’re looking for it, but it really skews the story.

               Finally, something that I really didn’t like about the documentary was the whole idea that people are complaining about America having too much food. For the first time in the history of the modern age we have the capability to feed our own nation and the world as a whole. It is so stereotypically American of us to complain about where this food comes from instead of taking it as a blessing and not questioning it.

               Since we first domesticated animals we have been keeping the biggest and best of our herds for breeding. Is this really any different than what we’re doing today by producing bigger and better chickens? Our chickens are ready for the slaughter in nearly one third of the time it used to take, and they produce more meat than ever before. Our cows also grow faster, produce more milk, and yield more meat. How is this a bad thing for our country? How can we complain about where our meat comes from when we can produce it in more quantities and for much cheaper than most other nations in the world? Yes, there are cases of animal abuse and unsanitary conditions. But these are few and far between in comparison to the benefits that we get from them. According to Daily Finance the price of a pound of ground beef in the United States averages around three dollars and fifty cents. In Europe, the price of a pound of ground beef escalates quickly from around five dollars and fifty cents all the way up to eleven dollars. So we should count our blessings and appreciate our cheap beef.

               In conclusion, the documentary “Food Inc” is very one-sided. It doesn’t show the two sides of the story, and tries too hard to tug on our heartstrings instead of giving is cold hard facts. I think that a lot was left out of the documentary, such as the very low price of meat in this country compared to others. It is very un-cool of us Americans to complain about something that we have too much of.