What Started It All: Food, Inc.

I wanted to get you a post this week, but you will notice it is a day early. Last Thursday evening, I was checking my person email and found three emails from Southwest Airlines in my inbox. Two of them confirming usage of our frequent flyer miles for purchases and a third one confirming my flight for January 10th. I didn’t have a trip scheduled? I looked a little further down and noticed it was to New Orleans. My husband has been wanting to take me there for a long time, so I knew something was up. I walked downstairs, put my phone up to him and didn’t say anything. He just started smiling and said “I changed the email address, how did you get that?”  I think he changed the email for the actual itineraries (which I did not get), but our Rapid Reward accounts are linked to my email. Surprise was out! He loves surprising me and was so mad I found out. Anyway, we are off to the airport for a long weekend trip for an early birthday present, because he will be out of town on my actual birthday this year.

Before I go, I wanted to leave you with my first blog entry hopefully inspiring your New Year’s resolution to make better food choices. Watching the documentary Food, Inc., was what started my full fledged food journey. I have watched it multiple times and now own it. You saw a few pictures in my food vs science post a few months back from this documentary. Below is the trailer and a summary of some of the key points I took away from it.

Corn

The Government promotes corn production. It is cheap to grow and can be used in many ways (ie. processed food). So much food and ingredients originate from corn. Examples of ingredients include, Cellulose, Xanthan gum, Ascorbic acid, Margarin, Fructose, Maltodextrin, Ascorbic acid, High Fructose Corn Syrup, and Saccharin. It is also used as feed for animals.  The average farmer used to be able to feed 6-8 people, but now can feed 126 people with the use of corn.  Additionally, farmers used to be able to plant some of their corn and soybean seeds over again the following year, making it cost effective. In the 1980s, Monsanto Corporation (chemical company that also produced Agent Orange) developed the weed killer Round Up. They also started genetically engineered seeds that can resist the pesticide and patented it, so farmers have to buy more seed each year. If the farmers try to save seed, they will be investigated and fined. Now a chemical company controls the majority of the food industry!

Industrial Food

Corn = the introduction of industrial food. There are 47, 000 products in the average grocery store. The average meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to supermarket. No seasons are found in the supermarket. Ripening is done with ethanol gas. Foods are engineered so they won’t go stale, with 90% of them containing a corn ingredient or soy. Salt, fat, and sugar, not found in nature, are the three most common tastes in today’s food supply.  

Meat Industry

In the 1970s the top five beef suppliers controled 25%, now the top four control control 80%. This is beginning to happen with pork. Meat is produced by a system, not as it used to be. The average person eats 200 lbs of meat per year. How do you keep up with that? Meat needs to be produced quickly: introduction of corn and factory farms (sometimes referred to as CAFO: Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation). Animals are now raised and slaughtered in half the time, but twice as big. Chickens are raised to have large breasts and no bones, which is what America wants, but clearly not in a natural state. Chickens can be raised in 49 days instead of 3 months, which means more money, more often. Animals also are often caged and don’t see sunlight.  There are often in horrible living conditions, including dust and feces. *In fact, in most documentaries I have watched, cameras are not even allowed into these environments.* Sadly, because of tight quarters and rapid growth, bones and internal organs can’t keep up and most animals can’t walk. Additionally, illness occurs. Cows in particular are prone to a certain strand of E.Coli, 0157. If one cow gets this, it is likely to pass on to the other animals and sometimes the consumers. Antibiotics are put into feed to help prevent this, which can pass through. Workers and those that consume the meat are now becoming resistant to antibiotics. Additionally, ammonia is used to treat the beef at slaughter time for sanitation purposes.  Finally, farmers are in trouble and can’t keep up. To build one poultry house, it costs $280-300 K and they end up in debt because they only earn about 18,000 a year.

For more on beef, check out my two previous posts here and here.

Health Concerns

One hamburger comes from 50 - 100 (at one point the documentary said thousands of types of beef) cattle. If you are consuming factory meat, it will be almost impossible to figure out where your meat comes from, which means if there is a foodborne illness, it will be hard to track its source and figure out if your meat came from the same source.  Additionally, the FDA has slowed inspections. In 1972 there were 50,000 and by the 2000s not even 10,000.

A second concern, with the increase in refined carbohydrates and high fructose corn syrup, there are high spikes in insulin. One in three Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes, among minorities there will be a one in two mortality rate. One in five health care dollars is now spend on someone with diabetes and there are five thousand deaths from foodborne illness per year. One case of reported salmonella poisoning means another 40 were probably not reported.

In last 30 years, there was an increase tenfold in the amount of pesticides used. Pesticides also run off into rivers and end up in oceans and the biosphere. 18% of greenhouse emissions come from livestock.

If you have been following my blog, you have probably heard me talk about a lot of these topics in the past, some entire blogs devoted to it, other tidbits integrated. Keep in mind, this documentary and my notes from it, are reflective of the year 2008. Some topics have probably gotten worse, while others better and yet new ones have arisen. I STRONGLY encourage you to watch it for yourself! Also, check out Take Part, if you are interested in continuing to follow what is going on in our food supply. This documentary changed my life and started me on the journey I am now taking. I hope you will join me!

I am also currently reading one of Michael Pollan’s books, the Omnivore's Dilemma.  He is one of the featured reporters in Food, Inc. and I now own a few of his books. While I am on the flight, I hope to continue to get more reading done.

I will be back with a recipe next week. Be sure to like my Facebook page, as I hope to get inspired eating lots of great food this weekend and will be sharing there. If you don’t have facebook, email me at cookingforabettertomorrow@gmail.com to sign up for the Facebook updates via email. I don’t see healthy food choices in my near future (exactly why I cannot vow to eat organically 100% - I do what I can, while still enjoying life), but sure am super excited to experience the New Orleans culture. I will get back on track once I am hope. Have a good rest of the week!

~Ashley