Industrial Food Expose: “Food, Inc.”

by Catherine Haugn

You can watch a 2 minute trailer for this feature length film on the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) website: Web video of the week: Food, Inc..  Here’s a synopsis from the OCA:

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA.

Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield’s Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms’ Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising-and often shocking truths-about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

Learn more about the film, issues, and actions you can take, here: Food, Inc., the Movie.

I just checked out their link to learn more about Factory Farming.  It takes you to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) website on vegetarian eating as a way to “save the animals.”

The HSUS article leads one to believe that the meat from ALL farm animals is to be avoided, not only for health but for a political statement.  Because factory farm animals ARE raised in an inhumane manner, it certainly makes sense to avoid their products in your diet; this includes almost all meat from a supermarket, even if it says “natural” on the label (There is little regulation on the use of ‘natural’).

Rickel Farm, December 2007However, it is possible to raise farm animals in a humane fashion, producing meat, eggs and dairy that is healthful and health-giving to consume.  We have several such farms right here in the Flathead, who raise their animals on pasture (refer to Farm Hands Map to find them). VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLARS!

And keep an open mind when reading these resources. (photo is of the Rickel Farm, a humane, local dairy farm, December 2007 by Catherine Haug)

And check out  About Farm Animals on the HSUS site, which includes thoughtful discussion on our wonderfully intelligent, playful and compassionate farm friends.

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