Watching the documentary ‘Food Inc’ directed by Robert Kenner and produced in 2008, the thing I was most struck by was not the terrible animal cruelty or the extent of machinery in the food production process, but the level of corruption and exploitation of farmers, workers and even consumers by the food giants of today. It shocked me to hear that McDonald is the biggest purchaser of not only beef but also potatoes in the US. Although I was obviously aware of the power and size of McDonald- a fact obvious by the sheer number of them every few miles in America-I never for once thought that they would so completely dominate two large food industries. One of the main themes of the documentary is exposing the oligarchy that exists within food production that it is a handful of companies that dominate and control how most of America’s food is made. For example Beef Products Inc. founded by Eldon Roth produces 70% of the beef in American hamburgers today. Even more shocking is the revelation that BPI treats its beef with ammonia to kill bacteria. A company with similar dominance is Smithfield Food, a company that is not only the world’s largest pork producer but is also the fifth largest producer of beef in America, and also boasts the world’s largest slaughter house. One of the reasons why the increasing dominance of a small number of companies within the food industry has gone unnoticed is because they sell their products under a variety of names in order to avoid being associated with a corporate giant. Smithfield is one such example using labels such as Butterballs and Cook’s Ham. Similarly even the organic food market has been infiltrated by corporate giants - companies such as Coca-Cola and Groupe Danone and even the ultimate company Wal-Mart have invested in organic companies but retained the original product name. The growth of such companies has been at the expense of independent local farmers many of whom are forced to turn to such companies for employment contracts in order to survive. One of the main reasons that this has been allowed to occur at such a vast rate is because the state and federal governments often support the large companies and allow their power to grow. This can be seen through the huge influence that many of these companies have. They have managed to stop laws forcing them to label foods that have been genetically modified in California and in Colorado food companies have been so influential that they have virtually managed to ban criticizing meat without facing potential lawsuits. The power that these conglomerates have is no surprise when it is seen that many powerful people with organizations such as the FDA or congressional committees are former employees of such companies.