Food Inc

Last week I watched the critically acclaimed documentary Food Inc, and for a number of reasons, it was disappointing. The early parts of the movie were promising, particularly when it argued that the source of many of the problems in the food industry was government subsidies and an unhealthy collusion between Washington DC and the food industry. But when the movie concluded, the solutions proposed by the filmmakers ignored that problem, and instead encouraged viewers to support even greater government involvement in the food business.

But the highlight of the film for me was this quote from Gary Hirshberg, the chairman and CEO of the organic yogurt producer Stonyfield Farm. My understanding is that he is a left-wing environmental activist, but in this quote, he sounds more like Thomas Sowell or John Stossel:

The irony is that the average consumer does not feel very powerful.They think that they are the recipients of whatever industry has put there for them to consume. Trust me, it’s the exact opposite. Those businesses spend billions of dollars to tally our votes. When we run an item past the supermarket scanner, we’re voting.