Countless Americans will see the documentary Food, Inc., because they view their food choices as one way to improve their health and help the environment. What its director, Robert Kenner, delivers, however, is something darker: 135 minutes of fear-mongering and a plethora of dogmas about nutrition and sustainability.
The movie is foodie propaganda at its finest. Mad food scientists are lacing our foods with “artificial chemicals.” Newsreel clips of countless food recalls. A soundtrack that could have come from the last “Saw” thriller.
It took six years, but Kenner and his crew have produced the greatest “Big Food” hit piece of all time. The film’s primary recommendation is a society-wide shift to organic foods. But despite its sacredness among food “revolutionaries,” the benefits associated with paying more for organic foods are a matter of faith, not fact.
Health experts warn that pricey organics carry no unique health advantages. The UK’s Food Standards Agency, for instance, says that, “the weight of scientific evidence does not support claims that organic food is more nutritious or safer than conventionally produced food.” It’s just more expensive.
The knee-jerk aversion to “pesticides” in the fruits and vegetables our parents fed us also ignores the fact that organic farmers use pesticides too. They’re simply chosen from a special list. (And given the lack of oversight on organic farms, there’s no guarantee that those pesticides came from the “correct” list at all.)
With all the movie’s vague talk about “sustainability,” it’s easy to miss the single most important point about sustainability in the film. When asked what he would do if everyone in his area suddenly converted to an all-organic lifestyle, charismatic organic farmer Joel Salatin replies, “heaven help me fit the need.”
Salatin’s help would have to come from a larger planet, or one housing fewer people. Hell hath no fury like a foodie’s entitlement to farmers markets. And yet, an estimated 17 people die from hunger every minute.
In one scene of the film, a low-income family wanders around a grocery store. The father is diabetic and the children are overweight because they “didn’t know” that a diet consisting entirely of fast food is unhealthy.
Kenner’s advice? Fixed budgets be damned, they should buy more organic and locally grown foods.
Ultimately, we come away with the clear impression that fast food is “bad” and everything organic is “good.” Someone should tell the American Dietetic Association.
According to the official position of the ADA’s 67,000 Registered Dietitians (translation: real nutrition experts, not activists and authors): The “overall pattern of food eaten is the most important focus of a healthful eating styleÉ [N]o single food or type of food ensures good health, just as no single food or type of food is necessarily detrimental to health.” Not even organics.
These dietitians note that pitting so-called “good” foods against “bad” foods “elicits negative feelings such as guilt, worry, helplessness, anger, fear, and inaction.” All words describing how you’ll feel after seeing this film.
Food, Inc. is a 2 hour and 15 minute recruitment session against “Big Food.” Nothing more. Kenner hides everything good about our food system, presumably because positive facts would detract from his vision.
There’s more agitprop than meat on this movie’s bones anyway, which leaves it advocating change for change’s sake. Such films usually end up preaching to the choir and alienating everyone else.
Ready to polarize the national discussion about what we eat even more? Enjoy the show. But don’t let anyone see you putting that extra butter on your popcorn.
Then again, maybe you shouldn’t have any popcorn at all.
J. Justin Wilson is the Senior Research Analyst at the Center for Consumer Freedom.
