Food, Inc.

Food, Inc. poster taken from IMP Awards

If you have strong guts and hungry for truth, then this is a terrific movie-cum-documentary that you should watch. Set in America, somewhere in between 2006 to 2007, when the GM food is at height, the movie unravels the ugly truth about the food industry. From farms to poultry and to the consumers, some things you just have to know because like what most people say, “you are what you eat.”

The origin of GM food originates from far back when MacDonalds first introduced its first hamburgers and cheeseburgers. When the demands get higher then naturally, we don’t have any other choice but to come out with ways to cater the growing population needs. Hence, GM technology was proposed to the world. The beginning of GM was accepted as if it’s a noble technology. However, what people have failed to see is the long-termed effect of this GM food. When the genetic of certain food is altered in order to produce better food at lower cost, the change in the genetic will affect some of food’s other characteristics that are not visible to our naked eyes. Cheap food, doesn’t necessarily means healthy food.

In the UK, we’re already have been surrounded by GM food. From the shallots to meats. Everything around us is artificial and the choice for organic food is simply limited and its price is way beyond affordable. It’s funny but that’s the ugly truth. The GM food is much more cheaper. Just look at our nearby Tesco. The cheap tomatoes are everywhere when the truth is tomatoes shouldn’t be that cheap. Seasonal fruits are available almost through out the year. The fruits and vegetables last longer even if you leave them outside the refrigerator for more than 3 days. If you’re given a choice between cheap food and healthy food, which one will you opt for? Ultimately the cheap one. It’s an inevitable scenario and believe it or not. We’re the guinea pigs.

So the movie starts with a brief introduction to what is really going on in a farm. You have cows, pigs and chickens all looking healthy like what you see in “Farmville”. But look at it one more time. Let’s go for the chickens. The crew takes us to a chicken coop. Although the chickens are looking pretty well heavy and succulent for cooking but the coop is beyond our imagination. It’s an enclosed chicken coop and all the chickens are crammed into one coop! The chickens which obviously had experienced rapid growth due to the growth agent whatsoever appear really pathetic. They can even barely walk for few minutes on their two feets and keep on stopping for rest like couch potatoes. Their fragile bones can’t support their sudden growth, that’s why. Many of the chickens are found dead everytime the farmers want to fetch for chickens. That’s the life of a chicken. And most of the paid laborers come from the Mexico. They can’t complain but to only obey the owners since they’re nothing but immigrants. They can only work and that’s it. Poor chickens.

Then, let’s turn to cows. Well you see, the meat that you have in your burgers come from many cows. Not only one cow, senorita. Just imagine the different type of cows going down your throat and into your stomach. Now, I’m feeling sick. So what’s interesting about the cows is, instead of being fed with natural grass, they’re being fed with corns. Not the ordinary corns but the GM corns coming from all over the world. The sole reason is only to cut the cost for feeding the cows and to get those “nutritious” meat into the local supermarkets and push them at half the usual price. Similar to what’s happening to the chickens, the cows are threatened badly. Some of them are forced to walk with big machines because the cows’ legs are too small to carry their fat bodies. The cows also step on each other manure, crammed in a small place. Do nothing but feed on the corns and sometimes they’re also being fed with chicken bones. What are we? Humans? We’re no less than twerps! Then, when the cows are brought to the slaughter house, the cows are only cleaned with splash of water (because they’re too many cows). That’s enough to prevent E.coli, I guess. And the minced meat. How I love it, different cows for one pack of minced meat. Eughhh.

That tells you how E.coli becomes a usual thing in the US. I hardly ever heard of E.coli cases in Malaysia. Just few minor cases but hardly any Malaysian dies from E.coli. So these cows’ manure or even the water from the pig pens, usually get into the stream and greedy farmers sometimes just use the same water to water the spinach and other green vegetables that you have everyday. E.coli can affect people when your food is not properly cooked and not properly cleaned. First we have the GM, now E.coli. I’m feeling that as if everyone is treated more like animals than humans.

Some of the stories highlighted that had caught my eyes is about a family of four. They’re not rich. They earn enough to support their four stomachs. Just imagine. With just 4 dollars, you can already get 4 sets of burgers with large fries and colas while the price for a cabbage is already $1.20. So which one will you go for? Do you want to see your children dying or living? To make the condition worse, the father is also diabetic. The family have to choose between buying medicine for the father or eat healthy food. We’re talking about the average families in the US.

Back to GM products. Truth be told, there’s no way people will continue accepting the GM food, unless the sporadically available organic food is chosen instead. The truth is, the power is in our hands as the consumers. The FDA will not care what will happen to us. The farmers will not care what will happen to us as long as they have the money to run their farms. So use your power. Every little items that go pass through the scanner at the supermarkets will display your vote. Whether you’ll go for the synthetic food or the healthy organic food. If more starting to realise the consequence of GM food to our health and more people starting to choose organic, the demands will elevate and eventually will cause all the greedy farmers and factories to shut down. Use the power of majority. We’re living in a democratic country, aren’t we?

The tips from me:

1. Buy local products.

2. Choose organic products.

3. “Faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper”. Don’t fall for that scheme.

4. Cook your own food and eat at home. Plus, you can spend more time with your loved ones.

5. Buy products from farmers who treat animals and plants with respect because that will decide whether they respect humans or not.

6. For muslims especially, buy things that are definitely halal because one of the farmers in the movie kills the chickens not slaughters the chicken (he cuts the chickens throats. Not once but more than once! And the chickens are later sent directly into boiling water to remove the feathers. THOSE CHICKENS ARE STILL ALIVE!!!! For god’s sake! No wonder more people are turning vegetarians).

7. Kill biotech engineers!!!!! Slaughter them! Spill their blood! HAHAHAHAHA. Kidding. They're not the ones to blame. Well, to those who're reading biotech engineering, please figure out ways to mend these problems. The damage is already done.