Oprah talks about Food Inc with author Michael Pollan.
Food, Inc. Gives Us More Inspiration to Support Farmers’ Markets and Small Farms, and to Eat Wisely
From the Food, Inc. website:
“In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has 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 farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.”Food Inc is co-produced by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser, who brought us the classic book, Fast Food Nation. Michael Pollan, one of the more articulate and entertaining writers and speakers in the slow food and small farm movement, is also featured.
On the Oprah show, Pollan and Oprah discussed Food Inc and the massive chicken farming operations that load bioengineered chickens up on antibiotics and feed them constantly in order to provide a ready-for-market chicken in a short period of time. Pollan pointed out that this practice created antibiotic resistance, and Oprah asked how we can create safe, sustainable foods and still keep food prices down. Pollan replied that if we can bioengineer chickens, we can figure out how to grow and farm our food in a way that is safe, human and sustainable.
Be sure to take the kids to Food Inc, especially the teens.
“Does for the supermarket what ‘Jaws’ did for the beach.”
- John Anderson, Variety