Intoxicación: La cruda verdad de nuestra comida

Everyone, especially Americans, should watch this. Reports of E.coli and salmonella outbreaks have become almost ubiquitous nowadays that we might have become inured to them. But the danger is real. The segment showing a baby dying from E.coli O157 is the most heartbreaking scene I've ever watched onscreen.

It's outrageous how food-producing companies seem to consider their products to be mere commodities, not thinking about how their products would affect consumers. Imagine faking the results of positive salmonella tests so they'd show negative results. Or ignoring complaints about undercooked hamburgers because cooking them more would toughen the meat. Or ignoring reports that processing facilities have live rats or bird crap. Or planting romaine lettuce close to livestock farms where animal waste contaminates the water used to irrigate the crops. These are criminal, causing consumers to get sick and even die. Why are executives of these companies given relatively light sentences considering the danger they've exposed people to?

Consumers, this is up to us. Nope, washing fruits and salad greens would not always do because pathogens that may get into crops from irrigation water contaminated with diseased animal waste need to be cooked to be killed. And cooking meat is not enough either because first, meat needs to be cooked to at least 140-degrees F for E.coli to be killed. Second, a pathogen-infested meat can easily contaminate the house if not handled extra extra extra carefully.

We need to make the government know we care about not getting comatose, having damaged liver or dying from pathogens in our food. Better yet, elect officials who care more for us consumers than their buddies, the executives/managers of food producing companies. Most of all, don't elect presidents who don't have enough sense not to appoint regulators whose research had been funded by the same companies they are regulating.

Europe can sell chicken products marked "pathogen-free". Why can't it be done in the US? Why can't we just do things that are right without putting politics in the middle? Politics would be the death of us. Truly.

Don't listen to anyone's reviews or political ideologies unless you've watched it yourself. This documentary will not provide any new information about our corporate controlled food systems and the regulatory capture of government oversight. However, it does an excellent job of providing narratives and interviews from all stakeholders involved. Consumers, regulators, producers, lobbyists, scientists, and government officials are given a chance to tell their story. You will have enough information to make better choices for yourself and your family. At the end of the day, you can't trust anyone involved in creating the problem to solve that problem.

No pun intended - everything connected with food is ... well I understand people may feel quite weird about this. And if you are easily convinced of things ... and this does not only include meat (mostly going after chickens, though sometimes also feels like it is an add for a specific institution, that says it is above the others) ... it has some things to say about your salad too! Yes nothing is safe ... again: maybe not take it literally.

Also try to follow some of the tips, because if you want to see something evil, you will see something ... this also concentrates on America! It seems that they do have quite a few issues over there ... their food control is not the best (contrary to what politicians keep saying) ... FDA - not ftw for sure (no pun intended) ...

Those people writing bad reviews are just either morons or work for government and meat and produce companies. Watch it, I love documentaries that show scary side of our food industry. If only more filmmakers had the courage to make more and more to wake the public up. We all know you can't mess with these giants in food industry but all it takes is few good documentaries and constantly putting in public's eye and we can together change the industry. Watch this film, it's very educational and well made. I really enjoyed it learned few things. It's insane how little we know about the food we consume.

What starts as an interesting history of modern day food illnesses, ultimately ends up turning into a commercial for more government regulation from a plaintiff attorney and multiple government representatives and agencies.

Food born illnesses are real, but the film chooses not to do the math and put the cases in perspective.

Furthermore, the film did nothing to educate people on safe food preparation tips to prevent this from a happening in their kitchens. Missed opportunity or the filmmakers felt it would be better to scare everyone.

Beef, peanuts, leafy greens, and chicken all exposed. Shocked that fish/seafood escaped unscathed (except for a late montage oyster reference).

It just feels like part of a bigger story - mainly the plaintiff's case against the industry.