Comments on: Film and Panel Discussion: ‘Food, Inc.’

By: Will Merydith

Will Merydith — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:25:16 +0000

"The solution is to educated the public regarding nutrition and healthy meal choices. "

The execution of that solution means taking on the marketing budgets of the very industries that don't have our nutrition in mind. Go to the Chicago Museum of Industry or the Zoo. You'll find large exhibits "educating" people on the merits of corn based products, corn fed beef, CAFOs, pesticides and all the other "advancements" that are make up the problem.

The good news is that the Internet, and sinking cost of producing and distributing information and media, is making that battle more even.

By: Lyricd

Lyricd — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:55:43 +0000

It may not be that simple. When the government subsidizes anything, the country generally gets more of it. Corn may not have become the monster it is today without the interference; if we choose something else to subsidize we may be bizarre forms of that food as well.

We could subsidize omega 3 fish oil production, but we would likely find that in a few years we have high fructose fish syrup, cheap MSG produced from fish remains, gasoline, and myriad other products that will be born of the artificially reduced price of fish oil.

The solution is to educated the public regarding nutrition and healthy meal choices.

By: Will Merydith

Will Merydith — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:32:09 +0000

Yes – it's not the existence of food subsidies that I am opposed to, it's the specific practices those subsidies promote.

By: egc52556

egc52556 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:13:59 +0000

The government will always want to subsidize the food industry, to stabilize food prices and to keep food prices low enough to allow the poor to eat. Without some kind of government control of the free market I don't know how else to accomplish those goals. You call it "interference", but I think it is a necessity.

But as the film points out, the subsidies are skewed towards food that's bad for us. Can we push the system to subsidize the food that's good?

By: Lyricd

Lyricd — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:02:07 +0000

I was impressed with this film. I thought it accurately identified the primary cause of many of the problems with the modern food supply, including an ignorance of its source, government restricting access to information, and worst, government subsidies for corn production in the United States.