Food, Inc.

Hubby and I saw this movie a few weeks ago. I had read Fast Food Nation several years ago, so a lot of this information wasn’t really new, but it was a good reminder of all the reasons I wanted to stop eating out and purchasing anything but organic and local when possible. But the thing that really struck me about this movie was the moral implications of our food choices. They really brought to light this chain of perhaps unintended but never-the-less real consequences of the choices that have been made. Basically, it all started with the advent of fast food, with McDonald’s in the 50’s. They brought the factory model to food, making it faster, easier, cheaper to produce food for people. The idea spread like wildfire and these restaurants and their knock-offs began popping up everywhere. Because they needed lots and lots of beef quickly, cheaply, uniform in taste and composition, they completely changed the way food was produced in America. There was so much money in this industry, they were able to convince Washington to pass laws that made it possible to buy corn for less than the cost of producing it (to feed the cows). Because they were able to sell corn for so cheap (due to government subsidies), they basically put all of the corn farmers in Mexico (one of their chief exports up to this time) out of business. So there was a mass group of people in Mexico who now had no way to support their families. At the same time, the meat processing industry needed workers the same way they needed animals. Cheap and lots of them. So they began actively recruiting workers in Mexico. Our government basically just turned a blind eye to it. They brought people up here to do the dirty work. Because these people are under the radar, they can treat them however they want, with no repercussion whatsoever. This is happening right under our noses, on American soil! This is Upton Sinclair's The Jungle all over again! These workers are put under horrific working conditions. Underpaid, overworked, treated just like the cattle they are butchering. And when the government decides to make a show of cracking down, they basically have a deal with the meat-packing plants, that they can pack up a few workers and send them home, as long as they don’t take too many to mess with production. It is an injustice. A terrible injustice. There is more than that on the film. That is just one of the injustices brought to light. But I believe that, as God’s people, we have a responsibility to stand for justice. They will answer to God for the way they are treating His children. But we will answer for the information we have been given, the wealth that we have been given, as well. It matters how and where we use our money. It matters. And that’s what it all comes down to. The pocketbook. Unless we are willing to stand up for justice with our pocketbook, nothing will ever change. I encourage you to watch the film with your spouse, pray about your place in all of this and the decisions you can make for change.