Campus Safari #10: Mixed Feelings

I’ve never really put much thought into the food that they serve here at the dining hall. But attending one of the presentations the other night gave me a bit of insight into that. I had attended one of the Sustainable Southern presentations that was put on by Residence Life, and this was about the quality of food here and how the industries contribute to the price of food. We had watched clips from a movie, Food Inc., which showed us about the Smithfield factory. It showed me what it was like working there, and how terrible benefits are. I learned that they don’t offer worker’s compensation, and you have to call into work if you aren’t going to be there, despite whatever is going on with you, otherwise they instantly terminate you. Another clip we watched focused on the chemicals from factories being dumped into the ocean, and what it does to our food and how we can avoid this in the future. In the past, I’ve seen many movies like this one, and I realize that it is hard to eat organic, because of the price. They mentioned in the film that if places like Wal-Mart and other grocers carried organic products at a cheaper price, more people would be able to buy them and then it would become the new normal.