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Food, Inc. | 
enlarge | Director: Robert Kenner Actor: Eric Schlosser Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment Category: DVD
List Price: $26.98 Buy New: $12.99 You Save: $13.99 (52%)
New (34) Used (8) from $12.99
Rating: 302 reviews
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed) Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Region: 1 Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 91 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 5 x 0.8
MPN: 10216 UPC: 876964002165 EAN: 0876964002165 ASIN: B0027BOL4G
Theatrical Release Date: 2008 Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farm |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description Food, Inc. lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing how our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. Food, Inc. reveals surprising - and often shocking truths - about what we eat, how it's produced and who we have become as a nation.
Amazon.com For most Americans, the ideal meal is fast, cheap, and tasty. Food, Inc. examines the costs of putting value and convenience over nutrition and environmental impact. Director Robert Kenner explores the subject from all angles, talking to authors, advocates, farmers, and CEOs, like co-producer Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma), Gary Hirschberg (Stonyfield Farms), and Barbara Kowalcyk, who's been lobbying for more rigorous standards since E. coli claimed the life of her two-year-old son. The filmmaker takes his camera into slaughterhouses and factory farms where chickens grow too fast to walk properly, cows eat feed pumped with toxic chemicals, and illegal immigrants risk life and limb to bring these products to market at an affordable cost. If eco-docs tends to preach to the converted, Kenner presents his findings in such an engaging fashion that Food, Inc. may well reach the very viewers who could benefit from it the most: harried workers who don't have the time or income to read every book and eat non-genetically modified produce every day. Though he covers some of the same ground as Super-Size Me and King Korn, Food Inc. presents a broader picture of the problem, and if Kenner takes an understandably tough stance on particular politicians and corporations, he's just as quick to praise those who are trying to be responsible--even Wal-Mart, which now carries organic products. That development may have more to do with economics than empathy, but the consumer still benefits, and every little bit counts. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 302
Essential viewing---you need to look under the veil May 21, 2009 loce_the_wizard (Lilburn, GA USA) 175 out of 181 found this review helpful
"Food, Inc." does more than serve as an exposé on the United States food industry--it connects the dots between the nefarious, contemptuous business practices of multinational corporations and their best friends, the compromised government regulatory agencies such as the USDA, FDA, and EPA, who have in the past been led by folks well connected within the very industries they are supposed to regulate.
But let's hold on a minute. Filmmaker Robert Kenner's documentary could have been just a dour, paranoid investigative piece and still told the truth. Instead, Mr. Kenner has made a color, fast-paced, and well-documented account of the state of the food supply in our country; the unintended consequences of the efficiencies, short-cuts, and technological methods inherent in factory farming; the insidious insider relationship between the meat industry and the agencies that should be regulating it; and the health effects, including diabetes, of consuming processed foods and fast foods.
Naturally, the culprits behind the curtain (e.g., Smithfield, Monsanto, Perdue) would not appear on camera, not because they are cowards but precisely because they are so powerfully connected, and have legions of lawyers and enforcers (yes, like any bully, these outfits do use intimidation), and are moving to control free speech and criticism of their practices.
The counterbalance to the doom and gloom comes from interview with small farmers; with entrepreneurs in the organic food business; and with brave folks who have tried to make a stand against the food industry; and with those experts who are striving to be modern day Paul Reveres in the face of mass indifference.
Kenner uses photography and imagery to make his points, and he interlaces this film with scenes of amazing beauty and graphic cruelty. "Food, Inc." is not an easy film to watch, and it should not be. Kenner uses the final frames to deliver some to-do's for those who want to respond to the film not just in conversation but through action. As trite as it sounds, if you can only see one movie this year, go to this one. (When the negative review start cropping up for this movie, it would be interesting to see how many of those are from food industry insiders and their minions.)
A food monoculture May 2, 2009 Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) 58 out of 60 found this review helpful
Robert Kenner's movie is a perfect illustration of F. William Engdahl's book `Seeds of Destruction', which explains how international agribusinesses are trying to monopolize vertically and horizontally (and profit from) food production on a world scale.
The world's food chain is built mainly on heavily subsidized and, therefore, cheap corn. In fact, all humans chew corn the whole day long from bread over meat (all animals are fed with corn) to deserts and drinks. Transnational corporations are even trying to learn fish to eat corn. Corn becomes nearly a food monoculture.
A particular transnational company even developed through genetic engineering highly efficient corn seed which it patented, thereby creating a nearly seed monopoly. Buyers cannot use the produce of the seeds as plant seed for future harvests. The company's own inspection force controls with hawk eyes that its clients buy new genetically modified seed every year. Some of the company's supporters and former directors occupy key positions in US governments and government administrations (FDA).
The movie shows the disastrous effects of intensive farming on animals, as well as the health and environmental risks of diminished standards at livestock farming and slaughtering houses.
Fortunately, some biological farmers show more respect for their animals and for their clients.
At the end of the movie, the makers give a perfect list of recommendations for those wishing to eat `healthy' food.
This movie is a must see for all those who want to understand the world we live in.
This is the movie that the American public needs to see. April 26, 2009 Brandon E. Baker 62 out of 66 found this review helpful
What can be more important than the food you eat? This is the movie that the American public needs to see. This movie deals with issues that each and every one of us faces every day--without even knowing it. Covering all sorts of food-related issues, from animal cruelty to the agricultural triumph of corn, this movie will leave you more informed than you were before, and will empower you to make a difference, at least in your own buying habits.
Take the time to watch. We're all slaves to the food system--at least educate yourself to how it works.
An important movie that everyone should see August 3, 2009 Anne Masterson (CT United States) 17 out of 17 found this review helpful
I saw Food, Inc. several days ago and many of the images still haunt me. The essence of this movie is how food production in America has gone from being locally produced to being controlled by multi-national corporations. The upside of this is that food is cheaper and more plentiful. This movie examines the downside, which is horrifying.
All livestock (including fish) are now fed some sort of corn meal, regardless of whether this is what the would eat under ordinary circumstances. For example, cows eat grass. If they eat something else, it causes extra bacteria, including e-coli to grow in its stomach. To treat this they are given antibiotics. Milking cows are fed hormones to speed up milk production. Chickens are fed so much corn to fat them up many cannot walk and they break their legs trying. Or the legs get infected and they are given antibiotics. One chicken farmer showed a "typical" day in the coop where she would go in and scoop up a dozen dead birds and through them on a gargabe heap. Lest it sound one sided, the large corporations were invited to participate in the movie and declined.
While parts of this movie are difficult to watch, ultimately it ends on a high note that we, as the consumer, have the power to change food production processes. As one farmer pointed out, you wouldn't buy the cheapest car or the cheapest clothes, so why apply the same philosophy to the purchase and consumption of food.
Simply put, this movie will change your life.
An important, shattering, and potentially life-altering film. July 15, 2009 Steve (Ithaca, NY USA) 15 out of 16 found this review helpful
As a vegetarian, I don't eat meat, and I knew about antibiotics in chicken feed, corn-fed cattle, and more. But, I didn't realize the influence that fast-food and chemical companies had on U.S. agricultural practices. I am now buying more local and organic produce, due to this film. Robert Kenner's film is not anti-carnivore, but it does make a good case for seeking out the beef from grass-fed cattle, and eating wild salmon and free-range chicken.
The chicken coops in modern America are usually dark, crowded, and unhealthy places, with animals that can barely walk, since they have been bred to have breasts double the normal size. Seeds are genetically modified and patented, and then giant corporations prevent growers from using their own harvested seed. Corn is subsidized by the government and is then used to fatten cattle, but also fattens people--and also winds up in batteries and gasoline. E. coli is now a huge problem, due to current practices. There are fewer meat inspectors today than there were fifty years ago. Many appointees to the FDA are from the industries that should be regulated. Politicians of both political parties appoint them.
Go see Kenner's film. It may change your life.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 302
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