Food, Inc.

Food, Inc. is a 2008 American documentary directed by Robert Kenner that investigates industrial food production in the United States. The film organizes its argument around the gap between supermarket abundance and the concentrated corporate systems that supply it. Its principal on-screen guides are investigative journalist Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, and writer Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Kenner’s camera follows Pollan through a supermarket aisle as he explains that apparent variety masks a food system dominated by relatively few companies. Schlosser discusses the power of major meatpacking and fast-food businesses, while farmers, workers, activists, and food-safety advocates describe the consequences of that consolidation. The documentary identifies corporations including Tyson, Perdue, Smithfield, and Monsanto in examining poultry, pork, beef, corn, and seed production. One recurring story concerns chicken growers contracted to large poultry companies. The film shows growers borrowing heavily for company-required poultry houses and equipment, yet having little control over birds, contracts, or payment. Carole Morison, a Maryland chicken farmer, appears after describing pressure from her integrator to make expensive upgrades. Another section follows the family of Kevin Kowalcyk, a two-year-old who died in 2001 after eating a hamburger contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. His mother, Barbara Kowalcyk, recounts the family’s efforts to strengthen food-safety protections. The film also visits a Smithfield pork operation and addresses the environmental and labor effects associated with large-scale animal production. It interviews meatpacking workers who discuss dangerous line speeds and injuries in slaughterhouses. A segment on corn links federal agricultural policy to inexpensive corn-based ingredients, feed for cattle, and the prevalence of high-fructose corn syrup in processed foods. Pollan argues that this production system makes calorie-dense products cheap while healthier food can cost more. Food, Inc. debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008, and Magnolia Pictures released it theatrically in the United States in June 2009. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 82nd Academy Awards; The Cove won the prize. Its release was accompanied by public discussion of food labeling, foodborne illness, agricultural subsidies, and corporate influence over regulation. Rather than presenting a single solution, Kenner closes by emphasizing consumer choices and calls for greater transparency. The ending directs viewers to the film’s associated website and encourages them to ask how their food is produced. Through interviews and reports, Food, Inc. connects everyday purchases to farms, processing plants, and policy.