Food Inc. Reflection

After watching Food Inc, what are your impressions of how science of food industry, technology of food industry, and society are interrelated?

This movie caused me to go a bit sick in the stomach. Afterward, when I ate a pepperoni pizza, I couldn't stop thinking about how they treated the pigs on the different farms. I think it's terrible, and there should be something that we can do about it, but frankly, we need our food. And the people who make our food aren't really the ones to blame for our obsession with deep-fried meat! We've kind of created a trap that it is impossible to get out of, because if we change the way we make food, then we change the food, and we don't even get the same amount anyway. The whole food industry relies on consumers, which is how society affects the food industry. It is a very tricky business, because if the food industry markets one thing wrong, then the whole thing that has been balanced out so carefully falls apart.

How did the film describe science & technology as a positive or negative impact on society or the environment?
The film described science and technology as more of a negative thing, because it showed how people take science and technology to create a lot more order and machine-made things. Instead of using science and technology to make things more earth-friendly, the food industry has used science and technology to mass-produce more food, to kill off animals in an orderly fashion.

How do our consumer choices affect what is out on the market and therefore, our own species survival? Basically, a total of about 5 companies own the whole food industry. If one of those goes out of business or does something weird to our food, we are in big trouble. If we all decide to stop buying meat from a particular company, we lose a LOT of food.This makes our survival very difficult, because then many people don't have enough food,and people do need their meat!

How are we as humans connected to how the Earth is used? We influence the Earth very directly, in fact. Every time that we pollute, we cause more damage. The Earth is what we made it with machines and factories, with more complicated packaging, with flashy ads and mass-production. We have gotten rid of many species of animals because of how greedy we were, and it is up to us whether the Earth will survive for much longer or not!

When do we say "no" to more high tech devices and go back to what caused the problem in the first place? Why are we only into the "HOW" things work and not the "WHY" things don't? What did this farmer mean? Very often, people don't say no to more high tech devices and just decide to try and figure out more ways of doing things. However, I think that when it originally doesn't work, then it's time to go back and figure out something else, not to try and prove that the first thing is always right by building on it. Often this causes more damage than good.

What is the difference between natural farming and industrial farming? Which is better? Are they both necessary for human survival? Why or why not? Natural farming is much better than industrial farming. Natural farmers actually care for their animals, or better than industrial farmers. Very often, industrial farmers do very cruel things to the animals without caring about them at all. For example, they would feed cows corn even though they can't digest it. This is only because corn is really cheap and easy to grow! Natural farmers, however, normally feed cows what they would eat anyway - grass! One could say that they are both necessary for human survival, but this is only because we need so much food in order to survive and the only way to produce food that fast is by industrial farming. It just seems so cruel to subject the animals to such bad treatment, and I wish it would be possible to know whether I was eating food made from natural farming or from industrial farming.

If technology and industry have improved so much that we are getting faster, fatter, bigger, and cheaper, how are science and technology held responsible for improving or ruining human health and survival?
Well since we have about 5 companies that control our survival, we are pretty much cornered. Science and technology could be very helpful, but only if companies use it the right way. If companies could find a way to use science and technology for a way to make things more efficient AND better for animals, then a lot of our problems would be solved, or minimized, anyway.

What economic costs, environmental costs, ethical costs, health costs, and cultural costs did you observe while watching the film? The companies from the movie attempted to find the cheapest way to do things, and this is all right, but the problem is the health of not only the animals, but also the people who eat the animals! As mentioned before, because the cows aren't physically able to digest corn, E. coli breaks out. The companies keep feeding the cows corn, because it's the easiest and cheapest thing to feed them, and then they make a hole in the cow's stomach and take the corn right out. This is one way it affects the health of animals.
Finding the cheapest way to do things also often affects the health of people, too! Because of the E. coli, one kid died from just eating a hamburger in 12 days. This is very bad for our population and there should be something done to prevent this type of thing in the future.

Finally, state your final thoughts about this film and any changes you see happening in the food industry in the future or even your own eating habits.

I am not able to look at food the same way anymore, ever. Whenever I look at the beef in a salad that my mom makes, I can't stop thinking about the cows being killed in the factories and being gutted without any concern for the poor creatures. I think it is necessary that the food industry has someone step up to help them come up with a solution for all those problems. Also, I think that the government should fix up its weak spots so that companies like Monsanto don't end up getting so much power.