Food, Inc.

[Criskin]

I haven't seen this one, but I want to find it. I agree that some of the documentaries out there can be a bit propagandist, but the point is that there is a problem. I really liked the book "The Meat You Eat" by Ken Midkiff. It pointed out that, on top of the horrible conditions the animals are kept in, factory farms also take advantage of family farmers who grow chickens for them (through contracts that at first seem lucrative but in turn leave the farmer open to large financial loss and the sudden cancellation of said contract by the corporation with no notice or reason). On top of that, it has been proven that many of these companies recruit Mexicans, encourage illegal immigration, then force them to live in deplorable conditions while paying them little.

On a more personal note, when I decided to take a semester off of college my Dad made me get a job at a local Tyson plant to "see what life would be like in rural Oklahoma without an education". What I saw there was enough to turn me off of factory farmed chicken for a lifetime. Being a temporary worker I was moved around a lot and saw most of the plant at one time or another. The chickens were battered and beaten while being forced into hanging stirrups, conveyor line fashion, then appeared to be scalded before they were completely dead. I once got into trouble by a supervisor for refusing to send greenish tinted, rancid smelling meat down the line for packaging (It DID get sent and it was okay, he said, because the meat was destined for outside the US). In addition, at least half of the workforce consisted of Mexican workers who spoke little or no English and were there illegally by their own admission. I was told by one of the long term employees that the authorities occasionally busted and deported them, yet they returned within weeks or months sporting new names.

Factory Farming is just wrong on so many levels! You guys are right, the average person either doesn't know about it or doesn't think they can do anything to change it. I think if enough people had access to unbiased, informative documentaries, though, they wouldn't be able to stomach these foods either for health or ethical reasons.

 

[CityChicker]

Thank you, Brunty. I am glad to hear someone else has seen it and had the same thoughts. There was nothing really surprising to me in the film, definitely nothing *shocking*. I think a lot of us are here on BYC because we are concerned about where our food comes from and want some degree of self-sufficiency. Very little in this film should come as a "newsflash" to any of us.

Criskim- This film did cover those exact things you mentioned. One part of the film was about contract chicken growers and their plight in dealing with the large corporations they sell birds to. One of the growers was interviewed and initially had agreed to having the inside of his poultry houses filmed, but later rescinded after pressure from the company.

The other lady did allow filming inside her poultry houses. After her interview, a statement came up on the film stating that her contract had been later cancelled because she would not agree to building the newer style darkened hoop-style poultry houses. The film also stated that the average commercial contract poultry grower is $500,000 in debt and makes only $18,000 per year. Again, IMHO, the documentary is very sympathetic to the poultry farmers.

The filmmakers also cover the topic of illegal immigrants working in slaughter houses. Some of that information was a bit of an eye opener. They are periodically arrested and deported, but only 15 at a time so as not to cause too much hardship on the slaughter house that illegally bussed them in from Mexico. What sense does that make?

 

[Katy]

The filmmakers also cover the topic of illegal immigrants working in slaughter houses. Some of that information was a bit of an eye opener. They are periodically arrested and deported, but only 15 at a time so as not to cause too much hardship on the slaughter house that illegally bussed them in from Mexico.

The reason a good portion of the workers are illegal immigrants is because most US citizens think they are too good to work at those kinds of jobs. The illegals are happy to come here and make the money they do to support extended families back in their home country.

 

[CityChicker]

Just so there is no mistake, I didn't mean that it was an eye opener that the immigrants are working in the slaughter houses nor do I question their motivation for doing so.

What is a little surprising to me is the degree to which the slaughter houses go to obtain the illegal workers to the point of hiring them in Mexico and bussing them on their own private busses.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Like I said ...most US citizens feel like that kind of work is beneath them.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

The companies of these plants need to treat the workers with more respect. Hispanics coming from Mexico are next to slaves in these types of environments.

Americans are not going to work for a company that treats them like garbage and pay them very little for the job. These jobs are disgusting and down right nasty. I would never work at a place like that, I would probably steal before getting treated like a slave.

The reason why the hispanics stay is because they have no choice. Once they are here working for that company, the company practicaly owns them. The workers are illegal in the first place so in their minds they have no rights. They aren't going to say a word to these employers or to the proper authorities. Why would they risk going to jail or to be deported? These companies know this... and take full advantage of it. They couldn't do that to an American worker... which is why not many work at such places.

This type of work isn't beneath me at all. I do it all the time with poultry. I do have standards though that I go by and these companies don't even come close.

I admit it's not for everyone but if these companies actually cared about their workers... than maybe some people would sign up for the job. But that isn't going to happen as long as the government allows it. If these companies treat their animals like machines... what's going to make them treat their workers any different?

 

[Rosalind]

Quote:
Sorry, I disagree. I have done a LOT of jobs that people often tell me "Americans won't do." Where I worked, there were plenty of other Americans and they had no problem hiring legal citizens and permanent residents. Scrubbed hotel toilets, customer service, picked farm veggies, waitressing, bussing tables, babysitting, done it all. The difference was, my employers paid about $0.10/hour more than minimum wage. OK, I am old, $0.10/hour x 40 hours/week = 1/2 gallon milk, doz. eggs and fresh bread instead of the day-old stuff on payday, but it wasn't THAT much money back then either. Plus, my employers knew that if they weren't at least civil to me, I'd quit and get some other minimum wage job.

Must agree w/ Brunty Farms. In companies that have had ICE raids, they manage to attract American workers shortly thereafter by raising wages a couple of bucks.

 

[Lady Henevere]

There's an essay in the book Food, Inc. that discusses the terrible conditions for farm workers, mostly the field workers who work on the farms in California's central valley. The conditions are bad, but there's not a lot of reason to make them any better -- the farm workers, being illegal, feel they can't complain to authorities or even seek medical care when they need it. The big corporations don't own the farms, they contract with the farmers; the farms don't actually employ the workers, they contract with an agency that provides laborers. The result is a layering of responsibility that makes it easy for any relatively unknown labor provider to quietly go out of business when something goes wrong, and a new one pops up in its place shortly thereafter. The big corporations never end up responsible for the bad conditions or medical problems that come from exposure to chemicals, etc.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
Nicely said... they explained this in the movie too. I can never remember everything from a movie with out watching it a couple of times.

Now that I think of it... when I go to buy started pullets from a hatchery in PA they subcontract the pullets to local growers. All the growers do is... grow them. Come catch day there is a long van with one guy that speaks both spanish and english, the rest speak spanish and everyone of them are from Hispanic descent. I can see now how these companies get away with this... there are no ties what so ever. Like stated, if their labor provider is caught with illegal immigrants... that's no skin on the companies back... they just play dumb.

Personally these companies should be held responsible, they should have on file or record that their employees, whether or not they come from the streets or a temp agency, have greencards or to make sure they are U.S. Citizens. Slap a few $500,000 fines on each individual that is caught and these companies will soon pay that extra $2.00 / hour to get legal workers in the plants. At half a million a hit most of these companies would be shut down.

Back in the day a butcher or to be one in a packing plant was a good trade and were part of a Union. Great wages, great benefits, ect. However when they were shut down by cheaper labor.... it showed just how a consumer changes the market. Believe it or not we asked for what we have today. Every time you swipe a food item over a scanner your supporting the industry that you despise so much. When americans demanded cheaper food for cheaper prices we created an illusion... this is by no means cheap... workers and animals pay the price everyday for cheap food.

 

[Lady Henevere]

Quote:
Definitely. I'm currently reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, and he talks about how little we invest, both in time and money, in the food we eat. I love this quote:

"While it is true that many people simply can't afford to pay more for food, either in money or time or both, many more of us can. After all, just in the last decade or two we've somehow found the time in the day to spend several hours on the Internet and the money in the budget not only to pay for broadband service, but to cover a second phone bill and a new monthly bill for television, formerly free. For the majority of Americans, spending more for better food is less a matter of ability than priority. We spend a smaller percentage of our income on food than any other industrialized society; surely if we decided that the quality of our food mattered, we could afford to spend a few more dollars on it a week."