The creators of the influential 2008 documentary Food, Inc. never planned to make a sequel. They thought they had said it all with their horrifying view of a broken, unsustainable food system—a system run, they say, by a few multinational corporations whose monopoly squeezes out local farmers, mistreats animals, workers, and the soil itself, and makes us all worse off. – a little healthy.
But 16 years after the Oscar-nominated film, they’re back Food, Inc. 2.” What happened? Well, first of all, the pandemic, an event that has both strained our food system and exposed its insecurity, they say.
Also, the filmmakers suggest, it may be naïve to assume that informed, ethical shoppers can reverse such an entrenched narrative on their own. “You can change the world with every bite,” claims the first film, urging consumers to buy local and organic, patronize farmers’ markets, demand healthy school lunches and, above all, read labels and understand what they’re eating.
Much of this is happening now. But some problems worsened and new ones appeared. “We really thought we could change the system one bite at a time,” says investigative writer and producer Michael Pollan (“The Omnivore’s Dilemma”), who returns with frequent commentary along with fellow writer/producer Eric Schlosser (“Fast Food Nation ” ). “As important as that is, it’s not enough.”
Directed by Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo, the new film opens, like the first, with an inspiring image from a painting – here a tractor slides across a field of crops under a brilliant sun. If you’ve seen the original, you’ll know that such a scene soon gives way to images of unpleasant assembly lines, “kill floors” in slaughterhouses, or workers earning pennies in the fields.
A lot has happened since 2008. More and more people care about what they eat and where it comes from. Farmers’ markets are everywhere, and supermarkets offer organic, non-GMO food because consumers want it.
But, Pollan reminds us, the industry is still dominated “by a handful of very large and very powerful companies.” In normal times, that power is invisible, but when the pandemic hit, the curtain was lifted, he says. We see images of countless pigs being euthanized because they cannot be processed, and farms throwing away perfectly good milk. At the same time, the shelves of many supermarkets were empty and people lined up hungry in their cars. The film argues that this is what happens when only a few companies are at the top. Some babies, for example, do not receive their formula.
As with the first film – the style is much the same – we are transported around the country (and beyond), listening to a stream of voices: organizers, workers, farmers, nutritionists, politicians, entrepreneurs, scientists. (Sometimes we don’t know who’s talking for a few seconds, which can be confusing.)
In Immokalee, Florida, lifelong farmworker (and labor leader) Gerardo Reyes Chavez explains how immigrant workers—mostly Latino and Haitian—are counted on and mistreated. “Industry wants immigrant workers because they think they can take advantage of us,” he says. Schlosser and Pollan tell us that if we eat fruits and vegetables, we are part of a chain of exploitation.
With bright, colorful and convenient graphics, the film traces the consolidation of the industry: the few companies that have 70% of the soda market, for example, or 80% of the baby food market. These realities violate the spirit of antitrust law, they argue.
We meet people like Wisconsin dairy farmer Sarah Lloyd, whose 450-cow farm seems huge to her, but other farms have 5,000, 10,000 or 20,000 cows. How can it compete?
Marion Nestle, a biologist and nutritionist at New York University, looks back over several decades and marvels at how food has become something available anytime, anywhere: “You walk into a clothing store and there’s candy on the cash register.” She especially marvels at increasing portion sizes over the years, a thought illustrated by a stack of pancakes that continues to grow.
A professor from Brazil, Carlos Monteiro, claims that “ultra-processed” foods are a key factor in diabetes. His ideas are supported by an experiment at the National Institutes of Health, which shows that people who eat such highly processed foods consume a whopping 500 calories more per day. Mark Schatzker (“The Dorito Effect”) talks about artificial flavors and how they trick the body into eating more.
Are there any solutions to all of this? The filmmakers look at a bunch, endorsing some more than others. Everyone is coming up with “plant-based” substitutes (fake chicken wings, bee-free honey). But Pollan worries that consumers might think “plant-based” means healthy food—often, it’s anything but. One promising idea: an ocean farmer, Bren Smith, grows seaweed, and a chef uses it in his restaurant.
The most emotional moment is Taco Bell, but not the food there. Fran Marion, a Taco Bell worker (and activist), has tears streaming down her face as she describes the challenge of feeding her children and avoiding living out of her car. She doesn’t get health care or sick leave, she says, and as an adult she has never been able to afford a doctor’s visit. She said she worked all day with food and came home to hear her son’s stomach rumbling.
The film ends where the previous one did: with a call to action. “Join us in transforming our food system,” it says, providing a website where viewers can get involved. The danger is the same, they say, as it was in 2008: “Monopoly power is a threat to our freedom.”
Food, Inc. 2,” a Magnolia Pictures release, has not been rated by the Motion Picture Association. Duration: 94 minutes. Three stars out of four.
