Contaminação: A Verdade Sobre o que Comemos

STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

In the early 90's, an outbreak of e-coli swept the United States, leading to mass hospitalisations and even deaths. This was followed shortly afterwards by an outbreak of salmonella that caused similar havoc, and the fingers all pointed back to factory farming methods, and the lax standards that were followed, as well as corporate pressure to meet targets rather than ensure safety. But the outbreak was not confined merely to the meat industry, but also to other unlikely sources, including green food such as salad.

One of the 'Brexit Benefits' hailed to many of the population was a trade deal on food with the United States, which was countered with their use of 'chlorinated chicken', and the unhygienic methods employed in the U. S. industry in comparison to the more regulated European model. To date, that appears to have been averted, however this documentary from writer Jeff Benedict and director Stephanie Soechtig casts a more unnerving spectre on the food we consume on a daily basis in general.

If the dodgy practices of the food companies whose bottom line is to make a buck are unsurprising, you'd like to think the regulatory agencies whose primary role is to keep the public safe would be reliable, but as Soechtig's documentary unravels, it's hard to decipher which one is which, or which department is even responsible for what. A certification of safety from any agency is revealed as no guarantee of safety, leaving an even more unsettling feeling in the stomach.

A short, sharp stab at an industry geared to a specific human need, Soechtig's film reveals itself as further proof that Netflix can still pull a decent documentary out the bag when it needs to. ****

Name dropping the brands that have cleared contaminated "food" for purchase, resurfacing the incidences that have occurred in the past, hits the large corporations right in the heart. Suggesting at the end what people can do to protect themselves. (Ex. Buying whole vegetables, not prepackaged salad, doing the cutting myself is very applicable to my life)

It makes me realize how much more comfortable I feel with buying produce that is local and from small businesses, assuring myself that I'm not eating food's contaminated with salmonella and E. Coli. They put research into the representatives that have the capability to make a difference and why things haven't changed in farming practices.

I can make a difference to what I'm buying from the markets with the knowledge that's been shared in the doc. Pretty sweet.

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.

I just saw the movie and i was curious what rating it has on IMDb, can't say i am surprised.

Fortunately there aren't many reviews so i read all of them just to get an idea.

Debates are always positive, unless both parties are wrong. I like when a documentary leaves me slightly conflicted because i go to the reviews in hopes to find that random extra information i need to sway me into a certain direction but to be fair, these days is getting increasingly hard to find a documentary which is 100% unbiased or 100% accurate facts and it's our own societal/governmental evolution or rather "devolution" to blame for that.

Everything now has hundreds of entities that "govern" everything in-between, like the LGMA, no one knows who is doing what for who or who's to be blamed if things go (-) (-) up, but in practice we kind of all know that most are doing it for their own self existence, the old "getting paid by the company that you should investigate" conundrum is as old as time and just like sugar has now 999 different names on a label, it's getting harder to even know who's who.

I'm actually amazed that this docu' managed to pull the Purdue guy, LGMA guy and that "scientific" lady only to roast them.

There is always mostly one big lesson i learn and consolidate from a slew of very different documentaries, and that is the LAW, the GOV, the companies, never did or ever will care about what happens to us, and that there are a thousands companies getting bribes and salaries for no apparent reasons except play some make believe intermediaries, oh and also wash you leafy greens and cook your meat!

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.