Reaction Paper
Food, Inc.
Food, Inc. broadens the consumers prospective on the production of foods such as chicken and cattle.The documentary was convincing in regards to showing the consumer what manufacturers are afraid to show us, consumers. Nowadays, there are approximately 47 thousand products in a grocery store. That of which four producers have 70% of the market. Food, Inc. had many facts and statistics telling the viewers of today's farmers and other large corporations in the food industry. It used to be that it took three months to produce a chicken from when it hatched to the time it was ready to slaughter, now, it takes only 48 days. Farmers average a borrowing of $500,000 in which they only make $18,000 profit. Large producers are keeping farmers in debt. Rather than letting the plants and animals take the time they need to produce naturally companies are always thinking "faster, faster, bigger, bigger".
Candy, chips, pop, and hamburgers from McDonald's are all examples of cheaper food than compared to vegetables or fruit. Although they are higher subsidized, they are low in cost. Food, Inc. could have overlooked the value some Americans have on these cheaper meals. A Hispanic family was shown on the documentary. This family was faced with having to choose between buying medication for their diabetic father or getting groceries. Him, as well as one and a half million other Mexican farmers lost their jobs due to larger corporations and with all the debt that is due, they don't have a lot of money for the quality of food they may want. Food, Inc. however did overemphasize all the negative larger companies were doing to farmers, as well as animals. Some interesting facts are as follow: at a slaughter house located in Tar Heel, 32,000 pigs are slaughter a day; that's 2,000 per hour. If a plant is always failing the USDA testing, they are said to be shut down. However, the law never took affect, instead, the plants took USDA to