Parenting

Has anyone else seen Food Inc.?

I just watched this last night. I am sickened and disgusted by what I saw. I have been starting to cut meat (pork and beef) out of my diet slowly mostly for health reasons and have been eating a lot of chicken, but after watching that documentary, I think it all needs to go.

I'm just wondering, for those that have seen it, what did you think? Did it make you change your mind about the way you eat and what you eat? I have a hard time imagining anyone watching that film and not being affected by it.

Ridley Run 3.1 - 4/9/11 - 34:24 - 1st race evah!
Kelly Monaghan's 5K - 5/15/11 - 3rd Place in AG
Walk the Talk 5K - 5/18/11 - 31:12 PR
Ridley Run 3.1 - 4/14/12 - 1st race of the year, 32:45

Re: Has anyone else seen Food Inc.?

  • Watched it on PBS the other night and I was disgusted also. The chicken farm sickened me and the thought of feces being in my ground beef makes it impossible for me to eat a burger for a very long time - if ever!
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  • yeah, the meat part wasn't a big shocker to me.  I had done my occupational health nursing rotation in a chicken factory... I didn't eat chicken for months afterwards.  dh did his graduate research in cow feed efficiency and the use of antibiotics and grains vs grass fed diet.  he prefers we buy grassfed beef and organic milk when able.  when we lived in the midwest, we had access to a farmers market and a farmer who did sell grassfed beef and organic everything.  which was nice. not as easily found here.   what shocked me was the power these few companies have over our farmers.  people should be outraged.  I was at the number of people who were sued by big corporations and were put out of biz.  that pisses me off.   makes me want to subscribe to our local community supported agriculture group ( you pay an annual fee and then get fresh seasonal produce delivered weekly from a local or fairly local, we are in nyc, farm).  we talk about it often, but haven't taken the plunge.  
  • we have changed things a bit since that movie. We try to be more plant-based than meat...but meat tastes good, so we add it in small amounts.

    we buy organic meat and milk. We will move to buying organic potatoes and apples. 

    the only area I haven't cut down in is my intake of Splenda. :(

  • I watched it a week or so ago--it does make me want to focus on local, organic foods.  And watching the labels more.  I probably wasn't as shocked as some people in that I grew up in farm country.  I was surprised at the monopoly on the seeds--that truly did shock me.  But I have an ignorant question about germs...When you organically garden don't farmers typically use manure (cow, horse, chicken, etc poop) to fertilize...if so then wouldn't the vegetables grow in w/ poop (e-coli, etc) on them even if they are organic?  I guess I don't see the big difference in having that crap in our meat & our veggies--it's kind of inevitable no matter what we eat, right?  Cooking/washing is necessary period right?
    AKA Carol*Brady! IHO my upcoming 10yr Nestiversary--Back to old screenname. My own Marsha, Jan & Cindy... imageDesigning a Life Blog
  • imagevccake:

    we have changed things a bit since that movie. We try to be more plant-based than meat...but meat tastes good, so we add it in small amounts.

    we buy organic meat and milk. We will move to buying organic potatoes and apples. 

    the only area I haven't cut down in is my intake of Splenda. :(

    I just found out about potatoes. I had no idea about them, but did know about apples. Where have you found organic potatoes? I've only seen them at Genuardi's.

    Ridley Run 3.1 - 4/9/11 - 34:24 - 1st race evah!
    Kelly Monaghan's 5K - 5/15/11 - 3rd Place in AG
    Walk the Talk 5K - 5/18/11 - 31:12 PR
    Ridley Run 3.1 - 4/14/12 - 1st race of the year, 32:45
  • Chrisy - for me, the big difference is that I can wash my veggies, I can't wash my hamburger, kwim?
    Ridley Run 3.1 - 4/9/11 - 34:24 - 1st race evah!
    Kelly Monaghan's 5K - 5/15/11 - 3rd Place in AG
    Walk the Talk 5K - 5/18/11 - 31:12 PR
    Ridley Run 3.1 - 4/14/12 - 1st race of the year, 32:45
  • imageMominator:
    Chrisy - for me, the big difference is that I can wash my veggies, I can't wash my hamburger, kwim?
     Yeah--did you see where they were washing meat w/ something like ammonia--that washed meat "filler" that goes to the American school lunch program--Gag--my kids are not eating hot lunch at school ever!
    AKA Carol*Brady! IHO my upcoming 10yr Nestiversary--Back to old screenname. My own Marsha, Jan & Cindy... imageDesigning a Life Blog
  • imageMominator:
    imagevccake:

    we have changed things a bit since that movie. We try to be more plant-based than meat...but meat tastes good, so we add it in small amounts.

    we buy organic meat and milk. We will move to buying organic potatoes and apples. 

    the only area I haven't cut down in is my intake of Splenda. :(

    I just found out about potatoes. I had no idea about them, but did know about apples. Where have you found organic potatoes? I've only seen them at Genuardi's.

    yeah, Genuardi's, I guess. it is frustrating that I cannot find what I need in a local grocery store...

  • a big part of the e coli problem in beef is how they feed cows. they changed their feed from the normal grass ... which is what the cow's gut is designed to digest... to a corn feed which is to fatten them up faster.... the change in ph , the antibiotic use to improve feed efficiency have attributed to antibiotic resistance e coli, and the proliferation of e coli... whereas those grass fed, have a different ph in their rumens (stomach of the cow) and the e coli is more under control.  dh's ex boss found that just changing the feed to grass before slaughter changed the infection rate.  but it's expensive for the cattle industry... so they don't want to bother.  

    but... wash veggies, cook meat thoroughly, and you should be good to go.  dh prefers the grassfed b/c he says "those cows were happier".  I mean, seriously, those grainfed cows are practically bunking up.  

    (b/c I don't completely understand it , a link)  https://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/98/9.17.98/cattle_feeding.html

  • It did not change the way I eat, but I already knew a lot of the stuff in it.  I have toured a lot of chicken plants too.  Talk about ick.  I am eating chicken right now though.  King Corn (On demand from Netfix) is also quite good.  My biggest problem with it is the way that illegal aliens are abuse by the system.  No one in America wants those jobs, yet they cannot seem to find away to allow them in in a legal way that would protect them from shoddy work practices and us from the host of problems that come from having undocumented people in our country.  It is estimated that 1/2 million people live in my state illegally, probably 1/2 of them in agriculture or food manufacturing, like chicken plants. 
  • imageChrisy-Wyobride:
    I watched it a week or so ago--it does make me want to focus on local, organic foods.  And watching the labels more.  I probably wasn't as shocked as some people in that I grew up in farm country.  I was surprised at the monopoly on the seeds--that truly did shock me.  But I have an ignorant question about germs...When you organically garden don't farmers typically use manure (cow, horse, chicken, etc poop) to fertilize...if so then wouldn't the vegetables grow in w/ poop (e-coli, etc) on them even if they are organic?  I guess I don't see the big difference in having that crap in our meat & our veggies--it's kind of inevitable no matter what we eat, right?  Cooking/washing is necessary period right?

    When organic farmers do this, the poop is allowed to compost before it goes into the garden, so the ecoli, ect all dies.  

    This is not in response to your post, but I love that no one wants them to wash the food with chemicals, but at the first outbreak of ecoli people lose their crap and sue everyone.  You can't have it both ways, a safe food supply that is overly abundant, super cheap, compared to any time in history, and readily available, and no chemicals. 

    Then there is the fact that people are repulsed by whole dead animals.  We get whole pigs to cook for parties from a small farm and people act like we turn into Annie Oaklie and need to move to a trailer.   It is probably the most humanely raised, and best fed meat, yet I can't count how many people make negative comments or won't eat it.  We also get whole cows from my aunt and uncle who have a retirement farm and treat their cows like pets, and again, people act like, "How can you eat that?"

  • imagevccake:

    the only area I haven't cut down in is my intake of Splenda. :(

    Have you tried Stevia powder? Stevia is a plant, usually found in South America, and when dried and powdered, it's 300x sweeter than sugar. It is 100% natural.  I got 100% Stevia Powder from Trader Joe's and I put it in my tea or sprinkle it on my strawberries for a yummy snack. Since it's so sweet , you only need a tiny bit. You should look it up. I'm actually trying to grow my own Stevia in my garden this year.

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  • I saw it and was horrified, but not horrified enough to become a vegetarian :)

     I am looking into ways to ensure I'm buying grass fed meat from farmers - I don't live in a rural area so it's been pretty inconvenient, even though I buy organic.  

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