Movie: Food Inc.

Which two major plant crops that are incorporated into the vast majority of foods are comprised of Genetically Modified Ingredients?

The two major plant crops incorporated into a wide variety of foods are corn and soybeans with around 90 percent of products on the supermarket shelf containing corn or soybean ingredient.

Ingredients that originate from packaged food products in the supermarket

The Heinz tomato ketchup contained; distilled vinegar, corn syrup, onion powder, high fructose corn syrup. Cheese contained soybean oil, corn syrup solid, modified food starch, isolated soy protein and soy solids. Jif peanut contained roasted peanuts, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (soybean) and fully hydrogenated vegetable oils (rapeseed and soybeans). Twinkies contained corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, soybean, corn flour, enriched bleached wheat flour and traces of peanuts. Coke contained high fructose corn syrup

CAFO

CAFO stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. Animals are confined during a growing season in an area that doesn’t produce vegetation and meets certain size thresholds. A lot of corn from around the nation is transported to these CAFOs. The reason they are fed with corn is that corn is cheap and it makes them fat quickly. Unfortunately high corn diet results to E.coli that are acid resistant which are more harmful E. coli that can lead to an outbreak when people consume these animals infected with E.coli

Contrasting Joel Salatan's Polyface Farm with the CAFO

Joel Salatan’s Polyface farm far outdoes the CAFOs because his animals are not concentrated in one area that is stuffy. Instead, they are in an open area where everything is grass based with maybe an addition of herbs and forage. Animals at Polyface are not fed with corn or dead chicken. Manure is also effectively managed to fertilize the farm.

The family in the movie often bought soda and chips instead of nutritious food

This is because the family never thought about healthy eating since they assumed everything was healthy. Furthermore, they do not have time to cook because they leave home early (at 6 am) and return late (at 9 pm). They are also faced with financial constraints hence go for junk which is cheaper than vegetables and nutritious food. The best alternative for the family would be for them to shop at farmers markets or buy foods grown locally as this would be cheaper than supermarkets. They can also plant a garden or save some minutes to cook grains that cook fast like rice.

The situation between Moe Parr, who was a seed cleaner, and Monsanto

Soybean seeds have been patented by the powerful and dominant multinational chemical company Monsanto that does genetically engineering on their seeds. They legally own the food crop and prosecute those who try to save seed. Parr had a cleaner that cleans seeds of debris so that they can be saved and planted the following year. When Monsanto soybeans came into the market, he never switched over but still got good deals with the seeds he was using. Sadly, he was sued by Monsanto for encouraging farmers to break the patent line by claiming their own seed. This is false and was a ploy to make him run out of business.

6. The word 'veil' is used as an anagram of 'evil.'