20s Movie Review - Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food

Director: Stephanie Soechting
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 83 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: -

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 44: A FILM WITH A STRONG ENVIRONMENTAL MESSAGE
 
Description: A call to action for the officials who have the power to mitigate the danger caused by foodborne pathogens that kill thousands of people in the U.S. every year.

Review: Stephanie Soechting’s documentary is focused entirely on the food industry of the United States, where there seems to be separate inspectorate for each food group, and they work nicely alongside each other. For however safe and controlled our food chain may seem: the danger lurks in every supermarket.

In 1992, customers of the fast-food chain Jack in the Box  could be hospitalized after taking a bite out of their burgers. For some, it even turned into a tragic death. The E. coli bacteria found in the meat sickened hundreds of people as the bacteria poisoned their own bodies. Four children died.

The cause lay in the restaurant chain’s policy of not heating their burgers properly, something the CEO vehemently denied. Unfortunately, it did not stop there, because after eating contaminated meat, children in particular were found to be able to take the bacteria from each other as well. In fact, the E. coli contamination was only the beginning, because after burgers, lettuce turned out to be a pathogen because it was heated. This was followed by salmonella poisoning at a peanut butter manufacturer.

Scientist, victims, relatives, doctors, lawyers and journalists speak up about all this. There is too little awareness among food producers that their products are actually consumed and can therefore pose public health hazards.

Its clear that Soechting is on the side of the scientists and the food industry is the ‘bad guy’. The documentary lacks nuance and the prospect of improvement is also largely abandoned. It does have an important message to proclaim and it is powerful, due to the people who experienced it and who did the research are the focus.   

Rating: 3/ 5