A Corrupt Food Industry

I clearly remember the first time I saw the documentary called Food Inc. in my AP Environmental course. As a senior in high school, I was being exposed to the crude world of the food industry for the very first time. Prior to watching the film, I didn't have the faintest idea of the corrupt system behind the food industry. It's amazing and almost funny to think of how much of an impact the film had on me. After watching it my whole perceptive changed. My eating style changed completely, where I once ate meat every single day I went to eating meat only twice per week, I gradually found myself being completely disgusted by it and began substituting chicken and beef with fish or eggs. After some more time I then began completely cutting off seafood and just eating eggs and yogurt as animal byproducts., so in other words completely vegetarian. And I remained with this new lifestyle for over 4 years. It was certainly refreshing to have to see this film again, and only further reminded me of America's completely controlled food industry.

Workers shovel corn on a 300-acre farm in Gogo, Ethiopia.
Photo by: Robin Hammond, National Geographic Creative

There was one specific fact within Food Inc. however, that really surprised me that of which stated that an approximate 30% of The United States land is used strictly for producing corn. How mind boggling is that? I remember when I first saw this part of the documentary (and now, once again) how I immediately thought of the number of starving families in third world countries it could save. A complete waste being used in places it shouldn't be. On another note, the amount of land that is also taken over for corn production is immense. Corn-related nutrition is everywhere, especially considering that it’s mainly used to feed animals. Further, wherever you look, corn is an added ingredient for numerous processed foods. It most commonly takes the form of corn-based syrups, for example. This complete domination is due to it being cheaper, and easier to grow.

Photo by: Ryan Bell, National Geographic

"Animals in these facilities live miserable lives. The grotesque details are many and come in nightmarish variety, but the fundamental cause is the same: humans who work at these facilities must handle thousands of animals a day, and many do not see, or do not allow themselves to see, animals as living beings who think, feel emotion, and suffer pain. (Robertson, 2014, p. 225)

The strongest, and most lasting image in my mind after watching Food Inc. will always be the inhumane treatment of animals. These images served as the last straw and made me strongly reconsider my eating habits. I'm happy to say that although I've reverted to eating meat, it is only very rarely that I do so. And when I do I make sure that it's from a farm that humanely treats the animals before slaughter. According to Food, Inc., large mass-chain food industries such as McDonalds and others, control 80% of the beef industry. This statistic further supports the inevitable mass produce of animals in a very short and limited amount of time, and thus the ultimate inhumane treatment as a result. 

Source: Robertson, M. (2014). Sustainability principles and practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.