Food Inc.’s Fact Problem
Posted: June 29, 2009
Update: Link fixed.
I went to go see Food Inc. last Friday, even though I do not believe that one must see a film in order to criticize it. Often, the film’s producers give one enough information to make a prudent decision. And there was plenty of evidence going into Food Inc. to know that it played a little fast and loose with the truth.
For instance, one corn grower who is quoted throughout the film on issues related to corn says that 30 percent of the U.S. land mass is planted in corn acreage. Well, there are 2.3 billion acres of land in the United States, of which approximately 442 million acres is cropland of one sort or another, according to the USDA. In 2008, corn growers planted 86 million acres in corn.
The film’s producers loved the sound bite, and had some beautiful footage to show how big a corn field can be. They even put this false factoid into their press kit. But it would have been so easy to check first.
Writing in The New York Times, columnist Nicholas Kristof raved about the film, but found one stat hard to swallow. Were there really 50,000 food inspections in 1972 and 9,164 in 2008? Apparently, not.
Problems such as these reflect a willingness on the part of the producers to accept without questioning any stat thrown out by their obviously biased sources without questioning them. The two biggest entities attacked in the film, Monsanto at one side and the livestock industry at the other, have done a terrific job refuting many of the claims made in the film that pertain to them. I will let them answer for themselves.
What gives Food Inc. emotional power is the quality of its anecdotes. What will give it real power to effect change, however, is its truthfulness. And there, it’s more than a little lacking. Sometimes, the facts do get in the way of telling a good story.
Ken Said,
June 29, 2009 @ 12:31 pm
Done. Thanks for the heads-up.
Amber Said,
January 22, 2010 @ 11:15 am
Wow, two minor errors.
To speak as if this movie is full of “fact problems” is not only deceitful, but flat out, WRONG.
Raj Said,
March 5, 2010 @ 10:09 am
I followed the link referencing the food inspection numbers, and even though Mr. Kristof has doubts about the specific numbers of inspections performed in 1971 and 2008, he did conclude that the number of FDA food safety inspections performed “had plunged”.
Bob Said,
April 3, 2010 @ 3:17 pm
Wow, two minor errors. Amber are you able to read or did you even listen to the movie? The errors are all over the movie and you can find answers from multiple sources in minutes. The movie said we had thousands of beef processors and now we have 13. Lie. Tyson alone has 12 and you can find that on the web in 2 minutes.
E-Coli -5700 is very common in people and has been around for a while. Human anti-biotics are affecting it as much or more than animal anti-biotics.
If the movies producers didn’t care to get little facts right, why would they want to get the big facts right. So you could ask why don’t they care to present truth.
Because they want to sell books and movies. They are as evil as the corporations they speak out against. Let me guess they flew in private jets in a limo entourage to the movie awards to rail against capitalism and green house gasses.
We live in hypocrite nation with the propomentary movies.
Mike Thompson Said,
April 8, 2010 @ 9:03 pm
Bob, what does propomentary mean? I could use a little clarification on that “word” because I couldn’t seem to find it in any dictionary.
mlinskey Said,
April 26, 2010 @ 8:50 pm
Mike,
When someone has nothing intelligent or factual to counter someone’s comment they disagree with, their only comeback is to criticize that person’s spelling. See it all the time. Sad.
Ken Westervelt Said,
May 13, 2010 @ 10:41 pm
I get the feeling ‘propomentary’ is a portmanteau of documentary and propaganda.
Joe Kroemenhock Said,
May 19, 2010 @ 1:17 am
You complain about Food Inc’s poor fact checking in two instances, one of which is pretty much true (less inspections), and one that doesn’t alter the point of the movie. Then you point readers to Monsanto for them to fact check that area of the movie? Are you kidding? That’s like pointing to a murderer and asking what his facts tell him. I’m search google for food inc fact check and i just get a mouthpiece for the industry. great.
Ken Said,
May 20, 2010 @ 8:04 am
Joe, Food Inc. spends a lot of time attacking Monsanto. One would think that they, like the murderer you cite, would have the right to defend themselves. As long as you are secure in your opinion that Food Inc. is right and its opponents are wrong, no argument would work to convince you.
Joe Said,
May 22, 2010 @ 1:30 pm
I’m not looking for a defense from Monsanto. You will get just as much biased information from Monsanto as you did Food Inc. Why are you OK with trusting Monsanto but not Food Inc.? Because YOU have already made up your mind, as you did before you even saw the movie.
I’m looking for an independent fact check, which is pretty much impossible in today’s world (soo many connections), but it certainly isn’t Monsanto.com or Food Inc writers.
Mike Said,
October 5, 2010 @ 4:15 pm
Very well put Joe. Didn’t Monsanto decline to be interviewed? I have to believe they tried, because WALMART of all corporations showed. Personally I didn’t think the Monsanto, or Corn aspect of the movie was really part of the big picture. That’s unfortunately just capitalism, Monsanto has a product they designed and they want farmers to “re-up” each year. The consumer is really to blame, in meat. However, the problem there is that people just aren’t educated in the matter, and I believe if they were they would choose differently.
I agree the facts should be straight, but there is still a basic level of knowledge in this movie that a lot of consumers don’t have. They don’t even know what the issues are, much less the facts of them. How good can the defense of the meat company be if they don’t even want us looking inside the chicken farm, and they decline interviews?
Tom Said,
January 26, 2011 @ 3:27 pm
you said aprox. 442 million acres of farmland and 88 million acres are corn ? still is like 20%. the guys a grower, might not be all that far off. i respect your position, i just disagree. monsanto and the others had an opportunity to answer any questions, bring up any facts.. they did not.
look at what taco bell is feeding us and calling it meat.. wonder why the consumers seemed shocked ? they expect meat to be meat, and the FDA to be in control of these things. which they are paid off not to. How else would these messed up foods be making their way to the consumers with their approval.
imo..
Michelle Cook Said,
March 21, 2011 @ 6:25 am
Thank you for pointing out those errors. It is important to get the facts correct.
When I think of the points of the movie, such as how poultry and beef are kept, processed and packaged, I could only wish that you had found more meaningful errors.
My family was already making a move to have more of our own ability to sustain ourselves, raised bed gardening and chickens. Initially it was just because prices are going up so much and so fast we felt it prudent. Now I feel it is my duty to disconnect from such horrible, unatural and dangers practices and teach my children to shun these companies. Its grass feed beef, venison, fresh garden veggies and our poultry for us. Good luck to you and yours.