If we are what we eat, we’re all in trouble. “POV” (9 p.m., PBS) returns with the Oscar-nominated documentary “Food, Inc.”
A film of massive scope, “Food” sets out to examine the root causes for ongoing problems that the TV news only covers in a sporadic and anecdotal fashion. Why have there been so many outbreaks of food contamination? Why are rates of obesity and diabetes skyrocketing, particularly among the young?
The film details the remarkable concentration of food production in a relatively short time. In 1970, the five largest corporations produced 18 percent of the nation’s beef. Now, four giants account for 80 percent.
“Food” shows how the government’s massive subsidy of corn production has thrown the industry out of balance, resulting in an explosion of corn-based products and cheaper meat. Cattle are processed and slaughtered in far fewer facilities and forced to eat corn instead of grass. They spend their miserable lives standing in their own waste. All of this leaves them far more prone to passing along bacteria to the consumer.
The film offers a harrowing portrait of a highly concentrated industry that has used its powers to quell inquiry and dissent among farmers, consumers and journalists. Farmers are put out of business for not buying one company’s genetically altered seed. Some states have made it a criminal offense to criticize the food industry. The mother of a boy who died after eating a tainted hamburger is threatened with crippling lawsuits. Oprah Winfrey criticizes hamburgers and has to spend six figures on lawyers.