Preview

Mass Production In Robert Kenner's Food Inc.

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
899 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mass Production In Robert Kenner's Food Inc.
Eating a hamburger these days is like playing russian roulette with E coli. Every hamburger you eat the chances of contracting the disease gets higher. In Robert Kenner’s Food Inc., Kenner examines the effects that corporate farming has on the American consumer. Kenner shows the industrial production of meat where some people are okay with with feeding animals antibiotics while others are not because it causes the meat to be unhealthy. Food Inc. also shows how the animals are being raised is abusive and inhumane. Many people think that mass production is the best way to farm; however, the mass production of food is abusive for the animals causes the food to become unhealthy and the FDA is not doing anything about it.
The mass production of food especially the production of chickens should be classified as animal abuse. Food Inc. shows corporate chicken houses packed with chickens
…show more content…
In reality the FDA rather call the small scale farmers unsanitary compared to corporate farmers and even has investigated lese and less. In Food Inc. Robert Kenner showed us a small scale farmer who was furious about the FDA. The FDA would rather spend time investigating his small farm and call it unsanitary whose produce only goes in his area than corporate farms who does way worse things and their produce is able to be sent all over the United States. In addition to the FDA not investigating farms that should be investigated the amount of inceptions have gone down and down.In 1972 the FDA did over 50,000 inspections, then in 2006 the FDA only did 9,164 inspections. The FDA has done nothing to stop the unhealthy mass production of food and with less and less investigations it makes it seem like they do not

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The United States has grown so much in the food industry from the past. One of the industries which accounts for most of the market in the US is the meat packing industry. The top 5 meat industries controlled 25% of the market back in 1970, and now that number has risen to an outstanding 80% of the market (“100 Days of Real Food”). This is indeed a great accomplishment for our country; however what is the secret behind these companies success? The answer is simple; Make and sell cheap food products and end up getting enormous income! When companies use this method, the food that they are selling is not of best quality and is always unhealthy for the consumers. Michael Pollan a food expert says, “Cows are not designed by evolution to eat corn. They’re designed by evolution to eat grass. And the only reason we feed them corn is because corn is really cheap and corn makes them fat quickly … The industrial food system is always looking for greater efficiency. But each new step in efficiency leads to problems. If you take feedlot cattle off their corn diet, give them grass or five days, they will shed eighty percent of the E. coli in their gut” (Foodincmovie). There have been many cases where children have died just by eating food that has been processed by the food industries. Barbara Kowalcyk, a woman whose 2-year old son went from a perfectly healthy boy to...…

    • 355 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Steve Striffler’s book, entitled Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America’s Favorite Food, he focuses on the corruption behind the consumption and production of chicken, mainly in the United States. His writing reflects the inhumane practices Americans partake in the production of food, emphasizing not only the animal cruelty that goes unseen but the health disadvantages that come with such behavior. Insightfully, the book is written through the perspective of a farmer, factory worker, and consumer, allowing the reader to gain a well broader view of the controversial issue.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bill McKibben’s essay “The Only Way to Have a Cow” establishes a sense of comfort as his approach to the meat eating controversy is superbly logical. The current industrial approach to livestock has birthed an issue pertaining to the sustainability and healthy feeding of our lives. Yet there is another problem in relation to our consumption, which tends to be overlooked. If the pricing of meat reflected in the damage done to our environments, feedlot beef would cost more than grass-fed beef both financially and environmentally. It is the rapid, inhumane dietary feeding of the cow which is insulting, not the consumption of it, and taking no responsibility for the run-off is an offense to the earth and it’s inhabitants. These costs alone are part of the reasoning for the current system which is inefficient and uneconomically feasible. The…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the novel, Fast Food Nation, writer Eric Schlosser describes how fast-food deals with the global influences in which the processed food affects the public. For example, one of the major topics that were fascinating and would make an excellent source is showing how fast food earn a bad reputation in the 1900’s and still continues to be a predicament today. In the same, way, the food borne pathogens called E. coli 0157:H7 exists in today’s meat and also is a toxic bug that can cause severe health problems and even death. For one thing, this problem arises from how cattle are raised for mass production of fast food restaurants. It is mainly spread among the feedlots in which the cows are being slaughtered causing feces to get into the processed…

    • 184 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    SUBJECT: In this chapter of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, titled “The Feedlot: Making Meat”, Michael Pollan discusses the use of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO), and the factories where countless cattle are being mistreated day in and day out.…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Next time you buy meats or vegetables from a corporate supermarket just think it may be loaded with antibiotics and/or harmful bacteria that may cause you to get sick or may even take your life, not to mention the inhumane or unhealthy conditions that the animals are kept in which in return pollute our air and water.…

    • 940 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    He presents stories that show the unfortunate situations or events that come with the fast food industry triggering an emotional response from his audience. In Chapter 9, Schlosser tells the story of a boy named Alex who was infected with E. Coli O157:H7 from a contaminated hamburger. The descriptive narration makes an impactful argument by showing how the current unsanitary conditions in slaughtering houses can affect one’s health. He colorfully illustrates the boys physical account showing how his reaction “ progressed to diarrhea that filled a hospital toilet with blood. …Toward the end, Alex suffered hallucinations and dementia, no longer recognizing his mother or father. Portions of his brain had been liquefied..." (Schlosser 200). By using the vivid details of the effect E. Coli had on this six-year old boy, fear is elicited from adult readers. Their children may be subjected to the harmful pathogen if they continually turn a blind eye from where their meat is obtained. To further emphasize his point of the spread of bacteria via meat and the need for change in the industry he states, “You 'd be better off eating a carrot stick that fell in you toilet than one that fell in your sink" (Schlosser 221). The bold, imaginative statement taps into the reader’s senses leaving them with a feeling of…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Over the last few decades farming animals for food has grown and evolved into a highly efficient, streamlined industry known as factory farming. Factory farms are owned and operated by big corporations, and despite the fact they make up only a small percentage of farms in the United States, they are responsible for most of the meat and eggs we consume here (Sierra Club, 2005). In factory farming, baby piglets are castrated without anesthesia and thrown into a pen, where they huddle in a corner writhing in pain. Egg laying chickens are crammed four or five to a cage (45x50cm) for their entire lives. They cannot spread their wings or stretch out in any way, and they never see daylight. To prevent them from pecking at one another, their beaks are brutally burnt or sliced to a stub. To produce veal, newborn calves are confined in small crates and restrained to allow a minimum of movement until they are slaughtered at just five months old. Factory farmed animals are treated like non-living commodities, suffering horrendous cruelties to produce the maximum profit at the least amount of cost. In recent years public awareness about factory farming conditions has grown, and so have concerns over animal cruelty and public health. The general public should not tolerate animal cruelty in the factory farming industry because it is extremely inhumane to animals and it represents a growing health hazard for human beings; instead, consumers should put pressure on the industry to change the way animals are treated and to ensure farms do not pose a threat to public health.…

    • 2009 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On any given day, one out of four Americans opts for a quick and cheap meal at a fast-food restaurant, without giving either its speed or its thriftiness a second thought. Fast food is so ubiquitous that it now seems as American, and harmless, as apple pie. But the industry 's drive for consolidation, homogenization, and speed has radically transformed America 's diet, landscape, economy, and workforce, often in insidiously destructive ways. Eric Schlosser, an award-winning journalist, opens his ambitious and ultimately devastating exposé with an introduction to the iconoclasts and high school dropouts, such as Harlan Sanders and the McDonald brothers, who first applied the principles of a factory assembly line to a commercial kitchen. Quickly, however, he moves behind the counter with the overworked and underpaid teenage workers, onto the factory farms where the potatoes and beef are grown, and into the slaughterhouses run by giant meatpacking corporations. Schlosser wants you to know why those French fries taste so good (with a visit to the world 's largest flavor company) and "what really lurks between those sesame-seed buns." Eater beware: forget your concerns about cholesterol, there is--literally--feces in your meat.…

    • 2077 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Health problems are flooding America. Why? It is the unhealthy, toxic food that we are consuming every day, everywhere. To change America's path on health and food, we have to fix how we eat and know where our food come from. In the novel, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, the reality of our food is dived into. Pollan takes us on a journey where he explores the four food chains. Those four food chains that control America’s food consist of, Industrial, Industrial organic, Local sustainable and Hunter-gatherer. Industrial is what you find in most supermarkets the “cheap”, and full of additives, preservatives, and antibiotic food. Additionally, there is Industrial organic. This food chain is a bit healthier than it's partner Industrial,…

    • 1609 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Buying any meat, dairy, and egg products is buying from the same four large companies that run the meat industry in America today. By using the Confined/Concentrated Animal Feeding Systems or CAFOs, these companies have made it to the top of the meat industry. CAFOs systems are unethical and pose a huge risk to our environment and our own health. Although these animals are being raised to be consumed does not mean they should live in small pins with no exercise, stand in their own feces, and be pumped with growth hormones and antibiotics. CAFO systems also have a huge impact on our environment, the CAFO systems have a vast amount of waste produced on small amounts of farmlands that cannot decompose properly. Causing farmers to dispose of the…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In relation to the dangers of E. coli outbreaks, Kenner cites the death of a food advocate mother and her young boy after consuming beef contaminated with E. coli. The approach is effective in such a way that Kenner puts a face on the issue. However, the rest of the health section does not provide epidemiological data regarding the incidence or prevalence of E. coli cases. Additionally, Kenner spends a lot of time focusing on genetically modified soybeans and Monsanto, yet data regarding health effects that arise from consuming GMO soybean products remains…

    • 1595 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Food Inc

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This documentary is more or less broken down in a ¬¬form of chapters, using supportive authors of several books on food industry, interviewing knowledgeable individuals, safety advocates, and farmers to advocate the reality of food industry. The documentary first illustrations a supermarket filled with different food items. As the camera focuses on the fruits and vegetable the speaker states “The tomatoes you buy in the grocery store are picked when green and then ripened with ethylene gas.” The process of food production has changed in the eyes of many, over the years. Many of us don’t know where the food comes from. Since 1950’s the fast food industry have had transformed the current method of raw food production. The goal is, “production of large quantities of food at low direct inputs (most often subsidized) resulting in enormous profits, which in turn results in greater control of the global supply of food sources within these few companies.” Only top four companies are handling the meat industry, which are implacable to the animals, workers and environment. The consumption of meat by an average American has raised tremendously so has the demand of fast foods. The methods of production have whole new level. First, thirty percent of American land is based on corn. The government policy pays farmers more to overproduce this easy-to-store crop. The corn is then modified in different chemical forms, which is used ninety percent in most of our industrial foods. The farm animals are feed corn to increase their weight for high dense meat. The cows, chicken, pigs and more over…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Food Inc.

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Most off our food is handled and processed by somebody else. The truth is Americans don’t have the time to farm and nor do the dirty bits. In America, whoever does the best in the fourth quarter controls how things will run, with the ever growing hunger for wealth there is no limit to what can be achieved. An American Filmmaker, Robert Kenner, released a documentary Food Inc, a perfect example of greed and disregard for what can be considered ethical in the food industry. Kenner was inspired to make this film after reading Fast Food Nation to show how portray the whole supermarket has become industrialized almost resembling the fast-food industries. The documentary Food Inc. is about slaughter houses, food manufacturing, and other food related subsets. The film relies heavily on visuals and also the commentary used statistics and facts creating attitude.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Farm to Table

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The widespread and on-going abuse of animals raised for meat production has been widely documented and reported. Outrage over the ammonia-treated meat filler or "pink slime" and the use of "meat glue" in restaurants and hotels, has sparked the rapidly growing Farm-to-Table movement. Will it last? I have great faith in the Farm-to-Table trend lasting in the American Culture. In recent studies, ive noticed that Americans are eating more healthily than previous years. Using more fresh ingredients, because of the the chemicals used in packaged produce and meats. Also, First Lady Michelle Obama, is doing all she can to help pursuade Americans to have more healthy eating habits. Which is definitely a way to get the American Community more involved. Even fast food restaurants, are changing their menus, giving other more healthy options than fries and soda. Chefs and butchers are increasingly buying meats from local farmers, who raise antibiotic-free livestock…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays