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‘Food, Inc.’ is an informative yet eerie documentary exposing the truth behind the food industry and its ways behind food production. Directed by Robert Kenner, this 2008 documentary sets out to educate the American population, manufacturers and government on a number of serious matters. Kenner achieves this through disclosing the appalling nature of the working and growing conditions, food safety and of course how the food is produced. Although he points out all the flaws in an outraged and indignant tone, he also creates a solution and makes a vital call to action to consumers to convince the food industry to change their ways to produce fresh and healthy foods.
Throughout the documentary, Kenner highlights the dreadful way farm animals are treated. He first introduces chickens and sets out to reveal to the audience what happens in the chicken houses. Vince Edwards, working as a Tyson Grower makes an emotional appeal claiming that “these chickens never see sunlight”. This has a strong effect as they aren't able to fully develop in a healthy way and not many would want to consume such animals in that condition. Due to the high demand for 'white meat', farmers are growing the chickens more as food than animals themselves. Having an expert in the industry make these statements against the growing system, supports Kenner's contention and contributes to changing our view on farming. We see segments of farmland displayed alongside bright images, soft and cheerful music whereas the factories are portrayed in a dark tone followed by intimidating images and words. This includes gruesome images of 'slaughterhouses'. The emotive visual itself instantly makes the audience look away is disgust and emphasizes the importance to change the unethical way the animals are treated. The term 'slaughterhouse' is also relatively bold and confronting. The purpose of the emotive language is to support the idea of the aggressive nature that Kenner argues throughout the documentary.
Another point highlighted in ‘Food, Inc.’, is the issue of companies producing contaminated food. This is due to the lack of their efforts to get what they produce checked and approved so Americans can safely consume healthy food. Evidently, statistics of food safety inspection visits showed us that “50,000 food safety inspections [were conducted] in 1972” and only “9,164 in 2006”. This highlights the concern towards the dangers of food that is unknowingly inedible and that it can be potentially dangerous to the health of any consumer. Barbara Kowalcyk, a food safety advocate shared a story of her two and a half-year-old son who simply went from “being perfectly healthy to dead in 12 days” after he consumed meat that was contaminated with E. coli 0157H7. The use of an anecdote provides the viewer with truth and evidence that is an eye-opener to the reality of the issue. Kenner's intention was to make the audience feel sympathetic and provoke an emotional reaction. As well as sending a heartfelt message, he also points out the dangers as you never know what couldn't happen by simply eating food. Barbra also proposed a law that meat plants were allowed to be shut down if they had an ongoing issue with contamination. Unfortunately, it wasn't approved, for this adds more frustration to the topic as the consumers have no say in the decision but they are impacted by it. Kenner easily turns the audience's attention to the American government and about how they care more about having a useful environment than the health of their citizens. This is also proven when the narrator explains that a “high corn diet results in E. coli”. The government allowed farmers to feed the cows not the grass where they have evolved to eat, but the cheap corn grains instead. As a result of this, “the animals stand ankle deep in their manure all day long so if one animal has it the other cows get it”, this is then exposed to all the other cows in the factory. During this segment, emotive visuals are used of cows in their own waste as well as being sawed in half. The effect of this is that the viewers are able to identify the awful condition in which their food is produced. What is interpreted as ultimately disgusting is now emphasizing the need for a change to reduce the number of lives at risk.
Kenner expresses the importance of how everyone has to right to know what is in their food and how it is made. The documentary's contention is to expose the hidden truth behind each and every product that consumers buy. The documentary starts off explaining the deceptive way images on how meat packaging is portrayed. The interpretation of something 'fresh' links to it coming from farms with open paddocks and green grass. This is juxtaposed when Eric Schlosser, a fast-food nation author, claims “the reality is a factory, not a farm”. He constantly argues that factories dominate the food industry in the wrong way. Consumers are also misled into thinking their meat comes from many different companies. Statistics used in the documentary show that in 1970, “the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market”, whereas “today, the top 4 control more than 80% of the market”. The use of factual evidence displays how little the industry wants its consumers to know about what they eat. Other aspects included like how tomatoes are “picked green and ripened with ethylene gas” change the judgement and views of the audience and make us question how these are going unnoticed. Kenner uses a variety of well-established techniques to establish the food industry as deceiving and untrustworthy.
‘Food, Inc.’ is a compelling, startling indictment of the American industrial food manufacturing and processing systems. Kenner sets out to reveal to the audience the unsanitary environment, the horrendous ways animals are treated and the unknown ways that food is produced. He achieves this through a number of persuasive techniques including a vital call to action proposing the effect of a change. By creating a solution, the audience is additionally able to decide the future through their own food choices and ‘with every bite’.
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