Food Inc.: Movie Analysis

The 2009 movie Food Inc. describes the major role that food production plays within many lives. This movie revealed that there is a very small variety of companies that consumers purchase their food from. These few companies actually control what is out on the shelves and what we put into our bodies. These companies have changed food production into a food production business. Many of these companies experiment with ways to create large quantities of food at low production costs to result in an enormous amount of profit for themselves. Some of the production cost cuts also result in less healthy food for the population. Instead of worrying about the health of the population, the companies are worried about what will make them the most money.

Since these few companies control a large amount of the products consumers can buy, the consumers are left with very few choices when it comes to the products on the shelves.
The control these companies have over the consumer’s choice displays one, of the many, post-colonial themes known as imperialism.

Imperialism is defined as “policy or practice by which a country increases its power by gaining control over other areas of the world” (“Imperialism,” par.1). Although the food companies are not a country, they have increased their power over the population by gaining control over the food production business. These companies often mistreat their production animals, workers and even the consumers. The animals are not kept in clean or safe areas which leads to an uproar in diseases. The workers and consumers often pay the price for these control factors. If the workers of these companies try to expose these companies’ practices, the companies control them by suing those that try to expose their practices. The food production companies also attempt to control the consumer’s knowledge of their products as Eric Schlosser states in Food Inc., “These companies fight, tooth and nail, against labeling. The fast food industry fought against giving you the calorie information. They fought against telling you if there is trans-fat in your food. The meat packing industry for years prevented country-of-origin labeling. They fought not to label genetically modified foods; and now 70% of processed food in the supermarket has some genetically modified ingredient.” These companies want to make their profit and the way they do this may not be appealing to consumer’s

eyes.
These companies understand that the consumer is most likely to reach for the cheapest item and know that by controlling what the consumer may see, they are able to increase their profits. The food production business is attempting to colonize the population. Viewing this movie through the post-colonial lens of imperialism allows the viewer to acknowledge the control these food production have over what consumers put into their bodies. These production companies have left the consumers with few choices when it comes to a healthy and affordable meal. Since there are few production companies, the consumers are left with little to no choice to support these companies because they have increased their power over the population.