‘Food, Inc. 2’ Review – Insightful & Impactful Documentary Falls Slightly Short Of Its Predecessor

The director of Food, Inc., Robert Kenner (Command and Control, Merchants of Doubt), initially didn’t have plans to release a sequel to that 2008 eye-opening and life-changing documentary about the food industry and its challenges. However, the world has dramatically changed, especially since the COVID-19 outbreak. Because of these rapid changes, he felt the need to go back for seconds and, therefore, teamed up with co-director Melissa Robledo (who served as a producer on Food, Inc.) to create Food, Inc. 2. While their second serving might not be as satisfying as the first, the documentary is still emotional and impactful.

In Food Inc., Kenner includes many jaw-dropping and habit-changing revelations – we dare you to still eat a burger after realizing that the meat probably comes from twenty different cows – but in this sequel, it’s all about serving up disturbing facts. That way of documentary making is both a blessing and a curse for this feature. The documentary states that you “can change the world with every bite,” but if you as a consumer don’t get the necessary in-depth analyses and insights, then it might be hard to know exactly how we can change the world. Mainly because many of us still take access to food for granted.

However, that easiness was shattered in thousands of pieces when the pandemic hit the world, the supermarkets, and the food industry. That’s when the shocking revelations in this documentary emerge. Due to the lack of different food suppliers and distribution companies during the pandemic (and also after), many farmers (both independent and global ones) couldn’t deliver their food to the big chain supermarkets. This not only resulted in those empty shelves and the limited numbers of eggs, milk, and essential foods you can buy at one time, but also in food companies having to take drastic measures. This includes dumping perfectly drinkable milk, euthanizing pigs whose meat should have been still fine for consumption, and throwing away produce. The documentary shows us that the food industry is based on predictability, and when an unpredictable, worldwide event like a disease outbreak cripples the world, it comes crumbling down fast.

The fragile nature of the food industry is one of the critical aspects of this documentary, while the other one is how a few companies control the industry. The tight control not only results in a very competitive industry but also a very unstable one. It was shown that when one of the companies, which served 80% of the infant formula market, had to shut down, parents struggled to find formula for their babies. Parents struggling to feed their kids should be something from the past, but emotional testimonials like the one from Taco Bell worker and activist Fran Marion show that it’s everything but that.

In her teary interview, she describes the challenge she faces when wanting to feed her kids while also trying to avoid living out of her car. Working in the food industry while not having access to food yourself is hell on earth, even more so when surrounded by Taco Bell’s “Fourth Meal” Campaign that promotes having a late-night Taco Bell between dinner and breakfast.

Marion’s testimonial isn’t the only gripping one we witness in this documentary. We also hear from the lifelong immigrant farmworker Gerardo Reyes Chavez that while his work is essential for the food industry, his life isn’t. He and his co-workers had to work during the pandemic, even when one of them had COVID. They weren’t allowed to isolate themselves from others. The only thing that counted was harvesting the food and serving the food industry. The filmmakers also visit dairy farmer Sarah Lloyd, who can’t compete with the more giant farms and companies due to the uneven and competitive industry.

Because of the emotional impact of testimonials like this, this documentary should have had more of these than of those ‘intellectual’ interviews with experts, politicians, nutritionists, and scientists. Those experts wanted to cash into the call to action of this documentary, but sadly, what they describe in their videos is too dissociated from how regular people struggle to get (fresh) food and how ultra-processed food is impacting society. This leaves a bit of a bad lingering taste as it feels a bit too propaganda-like for whatever the intellectuals do.

Speaking of ultra-processed food. While this topic is being touched upon in this documentary, it should have been focussed on much more, mainly because we see more and more fast-food chains and ready meals in supermarkets. The consequences of those foods are much more severe than we realize, and being reminded of that is always a great thing. Obesity and health problems are the more well-known problems, but Food, Inc. 2 also shows us that the chances of being depressed and the amount of negative interference on the brain becomes much higher when consuming more highly processed foods.

While Food Inc. 2 offers fewer insightful insights and too complicated intellectual voices, the flashy, user-friendly graphics and individual moving testimonials ensure that the documentary and its CTA at the end might encourage people to transform the broken food system after all.

Food, Inc. 2 is currently playing in select theaters and is available on Digital platforms courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToWTxhYkrKk]