Condori-Teves 1

Ema Condori-Teves
Professor Bagley
HLTH 1020 Foundations of Nutrition
9 April 2019
Nutrition Perspectives
1. Give a summary of the book/documentary
The documentary, Food Inc. by Robert Kenner discusses how there is a sort of figurative

veil between consumers and the big corporations and food industries. The documentary

discusses how food industries don’t necessarily disclose any information regarding how the

products are made and shipped out to consumers to purchase due to unethical/inhumane

practices, and also due to the fact that it may lose profit if the consumers were aware of the

details of how their food was food was produced. The documentary highlights how fast food

restaurants, McDonalds in particular, revolutionized how food industries ran their businesses

and how typical farming had to be changed to keep up with the demands of large fast food

corporations that were purchasing the majority of the meat and products these food industries

were producing. The fact that a few large companies were the largest/main purchasers of

products produced by these food industries they demanded that the animals and crops be

produced in a faster and more cost-effective way so that they could supply these products to

the rapid growing numbers of consumers. The industries most effected by this were those

that produced potatoes, pork, beef, chicken, corn, apples, etc.

Food industries that supplied the most chicken, such as Tyson, changed the entire way

chicken were raised and slaughtered. Chicken are now being raised in half the time that they

would have been 50 years ago and they are twice as big that they would have been due to

demands of the consumers. Consumers prefer the white, lean meat of the chicken, so to meet
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their needs, chicken have been redesigned to have larger breasts. This causes complications

for not only the chickens who cannot physically support the weight of their redesigned

bodies, but to the farmers as well who feel as if they have to comply to these new way of

production because they would otherwise lose all their profit if they were not to be able to

meet the demands of these large corporations which purchase the majority of their product.

The documentary also highlighted how commodity crops have been revolutionized to

meet the demand of consumers. Corn, in particular, is planted on about 30% or United States

land. Crops such as corn have been genetically modified and engineered for not only faster

production and greater yield, but also to have longer shelf life, better mouth feel, and better

flavor. Corn has been redesigned to be a fast and cheap commodity crop because it is present

in a majority of products and used to feed livestock as well. For example, the documentary

mentions how even fish are being fed corn because it is a cheaper product that typically

fattens the animals up quickly. The documentary goes into depth regarding the effects this

has had on the beef industries and consumers. Cows, hat have biologically evolved on a grass

diet are now being fed corn because it cost effective and fattens the cow up faster than grass

would, maximizing product. Although this would seem advantageous from the industries

perspective, it has had costly negative effects. The high corn diet in cows has caused for E.

coli to evolve to be acid resistant which can be extremely harmful for consumers. As a result

to combat the E coli that was present in the industries products, industries now introduced

chemicals such as ammonia that could potentially be harmful for human consumption the kill

the E coli bacteria.

Another issue that the documentary tackled was the health effects this has had on

Americans. These food corporations have demanded cheaper faster products from food
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industries which has in turn helped provide cheap and fast food for consumers to purchase,

the major issue with this is that commodity crops produced are typically high in fats,

carbohydrates, and sugar. This has had an effect of the health of consumers who cannot

afford to purchase crops other than the commodity crops. Healthy variety in diet has been

limited to low income consumers that have developed health issues due to their diets. This

has put these consumers in a tough situation on choosing more expensive healthier foods or

paying for medical expenses and medication due to their poor diet.

Finally, the documentary discussed the push for organic foods. The video discussed ways

consumers could be more supportive of organic and local farmers that produce product that

treat workers, animals, and the environment with respect. They also mentioned how local

products could be more beneficial not only because the consumer can be more aware of

where their food is coming from, but because the average meal (that typically travels 1500

miles to reach the consumer) could be minimized so that they can support the environment

more by lessening the carbon foot print. The documentary ended by demanding that

consumers take action into their own right for healthy food and push for better food safety

standards.

2. Which book/documentary did you choose? Why?

I chose this documentary not only because it was a documentary that I have not seen

before, but because it discussed a topic which I had some prior knowledge to but was not

fully aware of the intensity of the issue. I have seen this documentary referenced in many

presentation and discussions in other courses I have taken, but I had not watched it before so

I thought it would be beneficial to watch.

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3. Who is the author? What is their nutrition background?

The director of this documentary is Robert Kenner. According to resources, Kenner has

no nutritional background prior to the film and created the film because he wanted to track

where his food came from and uncover food system secrets, doing so he became more health

conscious of the food he was consuming and the industries that produce it and how these big

corporations affects the populations health.

4. When was this book written/documentary produced? Do you think the

themes are still applicable today? Why or why not?

The documentary was produced in 2008 and I do think that the themes are still very much

present today. The same advice they provided for consumers at the end of the film has been

more present in movements today and food industry practices have been more exposed and

available to the public.

5. Compare and contrast 3 topics in the book/documentary to your textbook.

This documentary had lots of similarities to the topics discussed to those discussed in

chapter 17 in the textbook, Wardlaws Contemporary Nutrition. Chapter 17 specifically

discusses Safety of our Food Supply and the variety of illnesses that can arise from unsafe

food supply. The chapter discusses how the greatest health risk from food today is

contamination of a variety of foods by viruses and bacteria and how these foodborne illnesses

affect 1/6 Americans each year. This theme was presented throughout the entire

documentary. This chapter also discussed methods to prevent food borne illnesses that were,

if not the same, similar to those presented in the documentary. Those preventative measures

mentioned in both the book and documentary include: purchasing organic foods to encourage
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environmentally friendly sustainable agriculture, purchasing local products, and supporting

community supported agriculture programs. The documentary also discusses nutrition

security and the book mentions in chapter 16 how access to an appropriately nutritious diet

coupled with a sanitary environment and adequate health services and care are all factors of

nutrition security, which a lot of low-income families lacked in the documentary.

6. What did you learn about nutrition from completing this assignment?

I had already been vaguely aware of a lot of the issues regarding how fast food industries

and large corporations such as Walmart having a big impact on the production of livestock

and crops but I don’t think I was aware of the negative impact has had on not only consumers

but farmers as well that this chain effect from seed to supermarket for most products sold and

available for purchase. This has a huge effect on human nutrition because these commodity

crops don’t necessarily provide adequate nutrition for consumers and livestock and crop that

has been exposed to bacteria such as E coli has been exposed to consumers who do not

necessarily have the power to retaliate against these food industries practices to provide safe

and healthy food for consumption.

Works Cited

“7 Questions with Robert Kenner.” Hobby Farms, 1 Mar. 2016, www.hobbyfarms.com/7-

questions-with-robert-kenner/.
Kenner, Robert, et al. Food, Inc
Smith, Anne M., et al. Wardlaws Contemporary Nutrition. McGraw-Hill Education, 2019.