Documentary focuses on food industry

The education committee of the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County will present a showing of the documentary film, "Food Inc." from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 10 at the Full Moon Theater at McHenry County College, 8900 Route 14 in Crystal Lake. The Lou Marchi Total Recycling Institute at MCC is co-sponsoring the event.

In "Food Inc.", filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of the government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. The nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but also have new strains of E. coli - the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. There is widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser of "Fast Food Nation," Michael Pollan of "The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto," along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, "Food Inc." reveals surprising and often shocking truths about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

For information, visit www.foodincmovie.com/about-the-film.php.

For information on the Defenders, visit www.mcdef.org or call (815) 338-0393.