Unflattering look behind America’s food companies PURPOSE BEHIND PAPER: Critically reflect on claims made: critically reflect on the claims and solutions presented in the mainstream documentary Food Inc. Mean world syndrome, scar tactic 1) the problem with the current food system; 2) the solutions they propose. RESEARCHED INFROMATION : CRITICAL ANALYSIS ON FOOD INC Food, Inc. is the most mainstream movie we’ve had dealing with issues of industrial agriculture and food. While there are many films dealing with these subjects, Food, Inc. actually has the potential to be seen by millions of people. For the footage of “conventional” chicken sheds alone, this movie is to be appreciated.
Week one: I, Chicken Little, was flabbergasted by the sight of millions of other chickens that look identical to me in this small place we’re now supposed to call our home. I hear the faint call of my name from my family from hundreds of chickens over. Will I ever see them again? Week two: A rumor goes around that the way of production around here is broiler production. My mom tells me that broiler production is the production of biscuits that we get to eat, but I secretly think she is lying to me so I won’t worry.
Hens have even been proven to navigate extreme obstacle courses to get back to their nests; by depriving them of that many go crazy. Naturally chickens work well in groups of 10-90 but when over 10000 chickens are crammed into a space less than 1 by 1 kilometres the natural pecking order is disrupted and the chickens cannot establish any social hierarchy, in the confusion and frustration the chickens peck and attack each other, this give the chicken farmers “reasonable” cause to de-beak the chickens. De-Beaking is a cruel process in which two thirds of the birds beak is removed, unlike finger nails their beaks contain nerve clusters, and the birds feel immense pain, many have trouble eating because of it and continue to feel pain throughout their life. The hens keep in these cages have nothing to scratch, there have been cases where the claws have grown so long they wrap around the cage wire, preventing the hen from accessing food or water. The battery farms also have artificial lights on special timers, which are designed to induce the hens into a 24 hours laying time, this put extreme stress on the poor bird’s body,
Perfect competition In perfect competition, there are 4 main assumptions in the market: Price taker, freedom of entry, identical product and perfect knowledge. There are a lot of firms competing in the chicken meat market. These firms are known as the price takers. Due to the large amount of firms, each firm is producing an insignificant small amount of the chicken meats in the entire market. They cannot control the price of the chicken meats in market.
I was born very light skinned so it’s hard to tell my ethnicity. There is a stereotype that all black people like chicken and watermelon. I find this very offensive but it’s related to the days of slavery when it was said that blacks ate so much chicken because it was cheap, easy to feed, and a good source of meat but others saw it as “dirty” and that’s why they ate it with their hands (GENE DEMBY. n.d.). As time progressed and the stereotype built up it became natural to associate black people with eating fried chicken.
They’re designed by evolution to eat grass. And the only reason we feed them corn is because corn is really cheap and corn makes them fat quickly … The industrial food system is always looking for greater efficiency. But each new step in efficiency leads to problems. If you take feedlot cattle off their corn diet, give them grass or five days, they will shed eighty percent of the E. coli in their gut” (Foodincmovie). There have been many cases where children have died just by eating food that has been processed by the food
I was surprised to learn that my body had been fundamentally altered by the prevalence of corn. The modern supermarket has, on average, 47,000 products. The industry doesn’t want you to know the truth about what you’re eating, because if you knew, you might not want to eat it. When you go through the supermarket, there is an illusion of diversity. So much of our industrial food turns out to be rearrangements of corn.
The section I am reviewing does a great job of telling how a local farmer kills his chickens and the pressure he gets from the federal government on how he is not really following their guidelines. It lets you know that animals are still slaughtered, but it also tells you that they are well fed and allowed to grow naturally before they met their end. With all of this in mind the whole process is seem to be more of the practice of old when we all bought our meat from a local farmer and it was done with someone you knew and trusted. It reminds you that the majority of our food is big business and they are creating animals instead of growing animals for our consumption. The most important part to me is that you are eating a more healthy chicken or animal since it was grass fed and allow to grow in its’ season and not before its’ time.
School authorities hope that by exposing more and more fruits and vegetables to children that they’re eventually have a taste for it and it would become a habit of they daily lives. Having actual real meat instead of the processed junk we are served is starting to become a real problem “According to reports issued by the Physicians Committee for responsible Medicine (PCRM) the USDA dumps hundreds of millions of pounds of surplus beef, chicken, cheese, and pork on the National School lunch Program.” Chicken isn't whole white meat, some of it doesn't even taste like meat. Let’s continue on to unhealthy foods. There is a huge list of unhealthy foods that we have. Desserts such as cookies, shaved ice, or we can call them what other people see them as for example, muffins, frozen
Coincidentally, George Naddaff, owner of 19 Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises, caught on to the “home-cooked” fast food idea and purchased a Boston Market franchise. Boston Market’s direct competition at that point, wanted to participate in their concept which carried them far beyond their current sales and revenue. Some indirect competitors of Boston Market eventually got involved as well. McDonalds ended up purchasing the chain of stores in 1998 and changed a few things to increase the appeal of Boston Market to its consumers. Fortunately for McDonalds, they are a big enough corporate themselves which enabled them to make this deal with Boston Market, whereas the other indirect competitors (local sub shops, Chinese restaurants, etc.)