Food, Inc. is a 2008 American documentary film directed by Robert Kenner and narrated by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser. It examines corporate farming in the United States, concluding that agribusiness produces food that is unhealthy in a way that is environmentally harmful and abusive of both animals and employees. The film received positive reviews and was nominated for several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature. A sequel is in the works and is scheduled to be released in late 2023.
Summary
The film examines the modern food industry, and raises alarms about both the industrial production of meat (chicken, beef, and pork) and the modern methods used to grow grains and vegetables (primarily corn and soybeans). It discusses the dominance of the American food market by a handful of huge corporations, which work to keep consumers from being aware of how their food is produced and are largely successful in their efforts to avoid such things as stronger food safety laws, the unionization of their workers, and additional food labeling regulations. These companies promote unhealthy food consumption habits among the American public and then supply cheap, inadequately safety-tested, increasingly genetically-modified food that is produced and transported using methods that exploit livestock, employees, farmers, and the environment and use large amounts of petroleum products. Eating organic, locally-grown food that is in season and reading product labels are offered as solutions, and the rapid growth of the organic food industry seen as providing hope for the future.
Interviewees
Eric Schlosser – Author, Fast Food Nation
Richard Lobb – National Chicken Council
Vince Edwards – Tyson Grower
Carole Morison – Former Perdue Grower
Michael Pollan – Author, The Omnivore's Dilemma
Troy Rousch – Vice President, American Corn Growers Association
Larry Johnson – Center for Crops Utilization Research, Iowa State University
Allen Trenkle – Ruminant Nutrition Expert, Iowa State University
Barbara Kowalcyk – Food Safety Advocate
Patricia Buck – Food Safety Advocate, Barbara's Mom
Representative Diana DeGette (D - Colorado) Representative Phil English (R - Pennsylvania) – Co-Sponsor of Kevin's Law Eldon Roth – Founder, Beef Products, Inc. (BPI) The Gonzalez/Orozco Family Rosa Soto – California Center for Public Health Advocacy Joel Salatin – Owner, Polyface Farms Eduardo Peña – Union Organizer Gary Hirshberg – CEO, Stonyfield Farm Amanda Ellis-Thurber – Organic Farmer, Lilac Ridge Farm Tony Airoso – Wal-Mart's Chief Dairy Purchaser David Runyon – Soybean Farmer Moe Parr – Seed Cleaner Stephen R. Pennell – Moe's Lawyer
Production
Director Kenner spent three years producing the film. He claims he spent a large amount of his budget on legal fees to try to protect himself against lawsuits from industrial food producers, pesticide and fertilizer manufacturers, and other companies of which the film is critical. Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan, who both appear in the film as interview subjects, are credited as "Co-Producer" and "Special Consultant", respectively.
An extensive marketing campaign was undertaken to promote the film. Stonyfield Farm, an organic yogurt maker located in New Hampshire whose CEO is featured in the film, promoted the film by printing information about it on the foil lids of 10 million cups of yogurt in June 2009.
A companion book of the same name was released in May 2009.
Release
After premiering at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, the film was shown as a preview at the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri, in February 2009. It also screened at several film festivals in the spring before opening commercially in the United States on June 12, 2009. The film earned $61,400 from three theaters (in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) its opening weekend. On June 19, it expanded to an additional 51 theaters in large cities in the U.S. and Canada, and it made an additional $280,000 its second weekend.
The film was initially set to be released in the United Kingdom in the summer of 2009, but its release in the country was postponed until 12 February 2010.