Go See Food, Inc. Now

My wife and I went to see the new documentary Food, Inc. last night at the Crescent Theater downtown. Wow! This film brings to light the growing problem with our food supply and its domination by a very few companies.

There is a lot of information to process here, but the bottom line is that we have a problem that needs fixing right now. The giant food processors have had a massive hand in policy making at all levels and the world is worse off because of it.

As Food, Inc. shows, obesity and its associated health issues, tainted food product and world wide food shortages all trace back up the line of fallen dominoes to Monsanto, Conagra and their ilk. The writers and directors do a good job of laying this out. They also offer glimmers of hope for the future and you hear from those who are trying to make a difference. The issues raised in the movie are a lot like global warming – the longer we wait, the harder the problems will be to resolve.

I think that trial attorneys can play a key role in righting these wrongs – not by suing the fast food industry for making us fat, but going after Big Agribusiness for failing to deliver safe food product, for deceiving consumers with packaging hocus pocus and for mistreating the small farmers who make up their supply network. The fix here is particularly difficult because the food processing lobby has well greased the skids with campaign money on both sides of the aisle. However hard the fix is, ignoring the problem is not an option. Vote through your grocery purchases, let your lawmakers know how you feel and fill the blogosphere with discussion on this issue. We can make a difference.