While I was watching Food Inc. for class, I was constantly reminded of where I worked this summer. No, I did not work at a farm for the summer. Instead, I worked at Con Edison’s East River Steam Station Power Plant in New York City. I am terrified about this thought because how can a place that generates and distributes steam for the skyscrapers of New York City look almost exactly like the “farms” of the agricultural industry?
In the portion of the movie, Unintended Consequences, Beef Products Inc. (BPI)’s processing plant in South Sioux City, Nebraska becomes a major focus of the competitive agriculture industry. Eldon Roth, CEO and Founder of BPI, explains the science behind his hamburger filler meat. The BPI hamburger filler has been cleansed with ammonia to kill the dreaded and deadly E. coli O157:H7 and is found in 70% of all ground beef burgers. Roth considers himself a “mechanic” because he designed the machinery to cleanse the meat.
BPI reminds me of Con Edison (Con Ed) in remarkable ways. The operations room in BPI plant looked exactly the same as the control room in the Con Ed plant. BPI’s operations room watched over the workers, meat, and machinery in Utah, Georgia, and Chicago and Con Ed’s control room watched over all the steam pipes in NYC’s metropolis area. They all controlled different places in the plant from one central location.
When Roth takes the viewers around the plant, I was reminded of Con Edison because of all the twisted steel pipes, the exhausts leaking out steam, and the technicians wearing their PPE (personal protective equipment).
Inside BPI's Processing Plant
Just like the Con Edison steam power plant, the BPI plant is not meant for the public eyes.
Con Ed does allow tours around the plant, but it is very difficult to tour because the place is so dangerous.
BPI plant is also hazardous which can explain the limited access.
According to Joel Salatin from Polyface Farms in Food Inc farming production has become a “culture of technicians.”
I will also add farming is now made up of mechanics, and engineers who are also the majority of the workers at Con Ed.
When I could not tell the difference between where I worked this summer and where my food is processed, I know that there is something very disturbing about the food system in the
United States.
BPI Processing Plant in South Sioux City, NE
Con Edison East River Steam Power Plant, NY
Sources Used:
Food Inc.
Nice post, Camille. There is something wrong, when food production looks like this--but be careful not to romanticize. If we're producing food for millions, doesn't it have to look at least a little bit like that? Polyface farm is a beautiful thing--but even that philosopher-farmer seems stumped when he starts to consider what he'll do if a lot more people come to him needing food.
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