Food, Inc. is a key documentary title released by Magnolia Home Entertainment on Blu-ray Disc November 3rd 2009.

The movie covers a number of food topics, largely focusing on the development of factory farming and the effect of having so much of the US food supply in the hands of just a handful of companies.

Topics covered include the mass farming and slaughter of chicken, beef and pork for the fast food restaurants.

Due to the powerful lobbying wings of the the food production companies,  crops like corn are being subsidized and sold for well below cost, flooding both the US and international markets.

Additionally, the ‘assembly line’ approach to food production is resulting in increasing numbers of salmonella and e-coli poisoning cases, and the inability of the USDA to protect the American public from contaminated food is highlighted.

The effect of low cost snack food and hamburgers is leading to significant obesity in Americans, especially in the lower income groups.

The movie doesn’t only cover the problems though, and farmers focused on grass feed and natural farming are also covered, as well as the expanding organics and sustainable farming industries.

Overall I found it to be an interesting documentary, though for me personally I didn’t find it very surprising, having already seen Fast Food Nation.

The film is tied together by Eric Schlosser, the author of Fast Food Nation.

Food, Inc. was directed by Robert Kenner, who previously worked mostly in television.

The movie was very well received by critics, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 97% and an IMDb score of 8.2/10.

The video on the disc is a VC-1 1080p encode at 22 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

A lot of the footage is sourced from low res or consumer grade camcorders, so don’t expect top notch image quality here.

Full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc can be seen at the details page for Food, Inc..

The main audio is lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 5.1 channels - 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

The disc is a single layer BD25, with 24.3 GB used and is coded for All Regions.

The disc comes with a selection of deleted scenes and healthy eating Public Service Annoucements from a number of celebrities.

The ABC News Nighttime segment You Are What You Eat: Food With Intergrity - a story about the fast food chain Chipotle and how the chain is concerned about the source of the food served there.

A pair of animated shorts from Kaiser The Amazing Food Detective and Snacktown Smackdown: Stay Active And Eat Healthy are included.

There is also a list of healthy eating resources, a promotion for the book of the film, a trailer for the movie and additional BD Live functionality.

Food, Inc. is a worthwhile documentary and a well rounded Blu-ray release from Magnolia Home Entertainment.

Whether you rent or buy this movie, it is something you should take a look at to learn more about what you are eating and how it is processed.

The retail price is $34.98, or order it right now at Amazon for $22.49, saving 36%!

Remember, you are what you eat!

Extras:

• Deleted Scenes
• Celebrity Public Service Annoucements
• Rescources
• ABC News Nighttime “You Are What You Eat”: Food With Intergrity
• “The Amazing Food Detective” and “Snacktown Smackdown”: Stay Active And Eat Healthy

Synopsis:

Food, Inc. lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing how our 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. Food, Inc. reveals surprising - and often shocking truths - about what we eat, how it’s produced and who we have become as a nation.

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