"Food Inc." Issues In Context

After we engage in the Silent Spring debate, we watch the movie Food Inc. and discuss the issues it raises about industrialized food production.  Below are some links to further information on the issues raised in the movie:

Industry Response:

• SafeFoodInc.com:  A page created by the National Chicken Council, the National Meat Association, and other industry groups challenging the assertions made in Food Inc.

• Monsanto: Food Inc. Movie:  A page created by the multinational agricultural company Monsanto rebutting some of the claims made in the movie.

The Individual Issues:

Farm Subsidies:  

• This is a hugely controversial and poorly understood part of U.S. government policy and one on which both the far left and far right tend to agree (but for different reasons).  

• Farm subsidies result in the U.S. government paying farm companies to grow too much corn and grain by paying them a set price even if the excess supply causes a drop in market price.
• According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG)--a left leaning environmental group--the U.S. government has paid agribusinesses $170 billion  in subsidies in the past 16 years .
• The "tax payer calculator" on FoxNews.com allows people to calculate (based upon their yearly income) what tax burden is put on them from the $15 billion per year average the government pays in farm subsidies.

E. coli O157:H7

• This is the virulent strain of E.coli bacteria that is becoming more common in our food supply.  This New York Times article discusses a healthy, 22 year old woman who was paralyzed (an extreme example) as a result of an E.coli 0157:H7 infection.

• E.coli 0104:H4 is a new strain of E.coli that has spontaneously mutated from 0157.  Scientists speculate that it has higher resistance to antibiotics because of their prevalent use in cattle production.

E.coli 0104:H4

• Pink slime: "Lean beef trimmings" (pink slime) is low quality meat and connective tissue that is left over after the prime cuts of meat have been removed. It is washed in ammonia to remove bacteria such as E.coli., and is used as filler in lower cost hamburgers. Recent uproar has caused many restaurants to remove it from their menu, as this Time article points out.  However, the USDA is planning to purchase 7 million pounds of pink slime for use in school lunches. 

• A story in defense of "lean, finely textured beef."  The company that makes it is closing 3 out of 4 of its plants.

"lean , finely textured beef"

Corn, Corn Everywhere

• Here's a CNN article with the self-explanatory title "If we are what we eat, Americans are corn and soy"