Posts tagged organic

The Holy Cow team went to see Food, Inc. last week and loved it. Our guest blogger, Anne Hogan, is a long-time friend of Holy Cow’s and also gives A+ to this documentary. She did a review and giveaway of one of our best selling organic t-shirts, Chill, back in March. You can read more from her and her passion on animal welfare on her blog: Life with Liane.

My mom and I went and saw Food, Inc. on Monday night and it was AMAZING. I was a little nervous going in that it would be too graphic and upsetting, but it was really more educational than anything else. There were only a few parts where I had to close my eyes, but I’m a big baby – I gag when my mom takes the innards out of the Thanksgiving turkey and I still refuse to touch raw chicken. The movie focused more on the way the food industry is set up and what role government plays. It was VERY interesting, and parts of it really ticked me off.

Did you know that there are dozens of high ranking government officials who used to be executives at the very companies that they’re supposed to be policing? No wonder these companies with millions of dollars and teams of lawyers have been able to squash any proposed laws that would really hold them accountable and give them repercussions for their negligent behavior. (Prime example – the USDA does NOT have the power to shut down any factory that consistently tests positive for salmonella and/or e-coli.) And did you know that you can’t say anything bad about the big food companies without them suing you for libel? Yup, it’s true. The libel laws are stricter for the food companies. Although the last time I checked, if your products and/or practices suck, the First Amendment gave me the right to say so.

We’ve all seen the images of farm animals being mistreated and abused, and this movie briefly showed some of those things, but it certainly didn’t make that the focus. Food, Inc. also focused on the people behind your food – the low-paid workers who are exploited by these huge companies. In fact, there is a certain meat company in North Carolina that gives law enforcement the names and addresses of up to fifteen illegal immigrant employees per week. These people are arrested, and in return this company avoids any prosecution or immigration raids that would slow down production. (Wondering who it is? I’ll give you a hint – a famous Southern chef does their television ads.)

Speaking of television ads… you know the one with the CEO of a large chicken company claiming that he makes sure his chickens are the best and he really cares about them? Yeah, that same company raises their chickens in coops that have no windows, so the animals never see any light. They are also fed growth hormones that cause them to “bulk up” so fast that their skeletons and internal organs can’t keep up; they often break their legs simply trying to take a few steps. Cares about his chickens? I’m calling bullshit.

Food, Inc. doesn’t try to discourage people from eating meat; it just encourages people to be more aware of where their food is really coming from. There is so much more from this movie that I would love to share, but I really think you would all benefit more from seeing it yourselves.

Food, Inc. on IMDB and Wikipedia.

Click here for a recommended reading list from Food, Inc.

Click here for a list of retails that carry “Animal Welfare Approved” meats (not affiliated with Food, Inc, but still a good reference).