Food Inc

There were many aspects of the film that really stood out and impacted the way I see our food production. First, I was amazed that these large corporations have such dominant control over the farmers that run the chicken houses, cattle, and soybean farms. I was disgusted that no one could even show the inside of the poultry houses because they feared what the company might do to them. I was shocked that these farmers invest so much of their money and time into raising chickens in this horrible way, yet they barely even make enough money to live off of, let alone keep up with the new regulations demanded by the corporations. It was really sad seeing how much the one lady struggled financially and then hearing that the company dropped her because she refused to give in to the complete dark & ventilated houses.
I was also really disturbed by the footage of the chickens helplessly lying on the dirty ground because their organs and bones can't keep up with the body's fast growth caused by the growth hormones. Also, the footage of the cows covered in thick coats of each other's feces and also struggling to get up onto their feet. I cringed several times throughout the movie but seeing animals treated that way just to make a large amount of meat is sickening and completely unnecessary.
The film continued to increase my knowledge and disgust for these companies and the government for allowing this to go on. Another big thing that stuck out to me was that our own government and FDA aren't doing anything about this. A large handful of those in charge in the FDA and other organizations responsible for overseeing our food and cattle production are former employees of these horrible meat industries, and even worse, we aren't allowed to criticize any company for their products or the way they handle it! I think the most disturbing aspect of this is that these meat companies seek out and transport illegal immigrants to work in the horrible conditions at a meat packing industry and then years later they are arrested for entering the country illegally and working here but the companies who hired the illegal immigrants who knew very well they were illegal, never get penalized or threatened for doing so.

The book includes all the aspects that were covered in the movie and more. I like how each chapter is structured differently and even though some chapters slightly repeat what was said previously, it doesn't seem repetitive at all. In the first chapter I liked how it was an interview and allowed Eric Schlosser to go in depth with his reasonings and motives behind his research. I was interested in his description of how illegal immigrants are treated like unwanted pests yet they are they ones doing the work that no one else will do and they are willing to do it for little pay and horrible working conditions. Schlosser really makes it hit home when describing that every single strawberry has to be carefully hand-picked and none of us even take into consideration the hard work put into feeding us a fruit.
The section on Food Safety Consequences of Factory Farms was really troubling but it was hard to stop reading. It pulled me in by the descriptions of all the health risks and horrible conditions the meat producing industry is causing. The movie touched on the unsanitary aspects of the poultry farms and cattle houses but this part of the book goes deeper into the risks we are taking by consuming such products. The horrible conditions they live in is really sad and what amazed me was the fact that "a dairy farm with 2,500 cows produces as much waste as a city of 411,000 people." This hurts our environment and can definitely hurt our bodies if we continue to consume fece covered animals.
What really made me queasy was the fact that these poor helpless animals are fed parts of other animals such as brains, spinal cords, and other disgusting animal tissues. It's not just the health risks that make me sick it's that these farm animals are not carnivores and are fed the lowest, cheapest, and unhealthiest feed that the farmers can come up with. It was also upsetting that pigs are forced to live in cages and often bite the tails off one another so the farmers end up cutting off their tails! Similarly, it is disgusting that many farmers cut off the beaks of chickens to prevent pecking. The chapter just really made me feel for these creatures and I was glad that it provided websites that can tell you where to get "sustainably raised meat and dairy products."