Participant Media, River Road Entertainment and Magnolia Pictures Present

A Magnolia Pictures Release

FOOD, INC.
A film by Robert Kenner
93 minutes, 35mm, 1.85 PRESS NOTES Distributor Contact:
Matt Cowal Arianne Ayers Magnolia Pictures 49 W. 27th St., 7th Floor New York, NY 10001 (212) 924-6701 phone (212) 924-6742 fax publicity@magpictures.com Press Contact NY/Nat’l:
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SYNOPSIS
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of e coli--the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farms' Gary Hirschberg and Polyface Farms' Joe Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising -- and often shocking truths -- about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

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LONG SYNOPSIS
How much do we know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families? Though our food appears the same—a tomato still looks like a tomato—it has been radically transformed. In Food, Inc., producer-director Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) lift the veil on the U.S. food industry – an industry that has often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihoods of American farmers, the safety of workers and our own environment. With the use of animation and compelling graphics, the filmmakers expose the highly mechanized, Orwellian underbelly that’s been deliberately hidden from the American consumer. They reveal how a handful of corporations control our nation’s food supply. Though the companies try to maintain the myth that our food still comes from farms with red barns and white picket fences, our food is actually raised on massive “factory farms” and processed in mega industrial plants. The animals grow fatter faster and are designed to fit the machines that slaughter them. Tomatoes are bred to be shipped without bruising and to stay edible for months. The system is highly productive, and Americans are spending less on food than ever before. But at what cost? Cattle are given feed that their bodies are not biologically designed to digest, resulting in new strains of E. coli bacteria, which sickens roughly 73,000 Americans annually. And because of the high proliferation of processed foods derived from corn, Americans are facing epidemic levels of diabetes among adults and alarming increases in obesity, especially among children. And, surprisingly, all of it is happening right under the noses of our government’s regulatory agencies, the USDA and the FDA. The film exposes a “revolving door” of executives from giant food corporations in and out of Washington D.C. that has resulted in a lack of oversight and illuminates how this dysfunctional political system often operates at the expense of the American consumer. In the nation’s heartland, farmers have been silenced – afraid to talk about what’s happening to the nation’s food supply for fear of retaliation and lawsuits from giant corporations. Our laws today are such that corporations are allowed to patent seeds for crops. As a result, Monsanto, the former chemical company that manufactured Agent Orange and DDT – in a span of 10 years – has landed its patented gene in 90% of the nation’s soybean seeds. Farmers are now forbidden to save and reuse these seeds and must instead buy new seed from Monsanto each season.

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Armed with a team of employees dedicated to enforcing their seed patents, Monsanto spends millions every year to investigate, intimidate and sue farmers -many of whom are financially unable to fight the corporation. Food, Inc. also introduces us to courageous people who refuse to helplessly stand by and do nothing. Some, like Stonyfield Farm’s Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farm’s Joel Salatin, are finding ways to work inside and outside the system to improve the quality of our food. Others are brave men and women who have chosen to speak out, such as chicken farmer Carole Morison, seed cleaner Moe Parr and food safety advocate Barbara Kowalcyk. Their stories, both heartbreaking and heroic, serve to demonstrate the level of humanity and commitment it takes to fight the corporations that control the food industry. It’s important to note that the filmmakers attempted to interview representatives from Monsanto, Tyson, Perdue and Smithfield, but they all declined. Food, Inc. illustrates the dangers of a food system controlled by powerful corporations that don’t want you to see, to think about or to criticize how our food is made. The film reveals how complicated and compromised the once simple process of growing crops and raising livestock to feed ourselves and our families has become. But, it also reminds us that despite what appears to be at times a hopeless situation, each of us still has the ability to vote on this issue every day – at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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SOUNDBYTES AND SUBJECTS
The voices of Food, Inc. are food experts, farmers, businessmen, government representatives and food advocates, all of whom have helped to reveal where our food comes from and how it is made. Here is a sampling of their key quotes from the film along with brief information about them: “There is this deliberate veil, this curtain that’s drawn between us and where our food is coming from. The industry doesn’t want you to know the truth about what you’re eating because if you knew, you might not want to eat it.” “Not only do they not want you to know what’s in it, they have managed to make it against the law to criticize their products … In Colorado, it’s a felony if you’re convicted under a veggie libel law. So you could go to prison for criticizing the ground beef that’s being produced in the state of Colorado.” “You look at the labels and you see farmer this, farmer that. It’s really just three or four companies that are controlling the meat. We’ve never had food companies this big and this powerful in our history.” – Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation.” Food, Inc. was the brainchild of Schlosser and director/producer Robert Kenner. Schlosser, who is a highly regarded investigative journalist and author, was instrumental in the film’s research as well as providing his expertise and opening doors to his impressive list of industry contacts for the filmmakers. “The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000, but the image that’s used to sell the food … you go into the supermarket and you see pictures of farmers. The picket fence and the silo and the 1930s farmhouse and the green grass. The reality is … it’s not a farm, it’s a factory. That meat is being processed by huge multi-national corporations that have very little to do with ranches and farmers.” “All those snack food calories are the ones that come from the commodity crops, from the wheat, from the corn, and from the soybeans. By making those calories really cheap, it’s one of the reasons that the biggest predictor of obesity is income level.” “Cows are not designed by evolution to eat corn. They’re designed by evolution to eat grass. And the only reason we feed them corn is because corn is really cheap and corn makes them fat quickly … The industrial food 5

system is always looking for greater efficiency. But each new step in efficiency leads to problems. If you take feedlot cattle off their corn diet, give them grass for five days, they will shed eighty percent of the E. coli in their gut.” -- Michael Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto,” which bowed in January, 2008 Pollan is an award-winning journalist and world-renown food expert who has authored five books, including “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.” The book, which was named one of the 10 best books of the year by The New York Times and the Washington Post, was used as reference material by the filmmakers for this film. His other books include “Second Nature,” “A Place of My Own” and “The Botany of Desire.” “I understand why farmers don’t want to talk because companies can do what it wants to do as far as pay goes because they control everything. But … something has to be said.” -- Carole Morison, a courageous chicken farmer growing for Perdue in Maryland who – despite fear of retaliation – spoke out when no other farmer in the area would. Morison brings the filmmakers inside a chicken farm so Americans can see first hand what antibiotics and high-tech breeding are doing to the nation’s chickens. It used to take a chick three months to grow into adulthood, but with the chemicals put into the feed by the big industrialized food companies, the chicks grow in only 45 days and develop oversized breasts. Morison shows how it has affected the chickens -- some of the chickens can no longer stand and die before they are brought to market. Carole subsequently lost her contract and is now left with few options. She is considering the worst-case scenario: Selling the family farm. “We reduced funding for the FDA and rely increasingly on self-policing for all of these industries, and now we just have really lost our system.” -- Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-Colorado), one of the champions for food safety in D.C. “We put faith in our government to protect us, and we’re not being protected at the most basic level.” -- Barbara Kowalcyk, a heroic mother whose 2 1/2 year old child Kevin died from E. coli. She has since become a food safety advocate, fighting to give the USDA back its power to shut down plants that repeatedly produce contaminated meats.

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Barbara and her mother, Patricia Buck, have pushed for the “Kevin’s Law” bill to become law since 2002. It still has not passed. “Imagine what it would be if, as a national policy, we said we would be only successful if we had fewer people going to the hospital next year than last year? The idea then would be to have such nutritionally dense, unadulterated food that people who ate it actually felt better, had more energy and weren’t sick as much … now, see, that’s a noble goal.” -- Joel Salatin, owner/farmer of Polyface Farms in Virginia, which lets his livestock graze on grass, the way nature intended. “Monsanto has a team of private investigators that kinda roam the country and they have a little 1-800 hotline … if you save your own seed, you’re gonna get a call from Monsanto.” -- Troy Roush, VP, American Corn Growers Association, on what’s happening behind the scenes to America’s farmers. “I found it necessary to get up at 3 or 4 in the morning before the (private) investigators are on the road following me.” – Moe Parr, an Indiana man who was sued by Monsanto for inducing farmers to violate patents by seed cleaning – a practice utilized by farmers for thousands of years. Parr, who has been a seed cleaner for 25 years, was subsequently pushed out of the seed business. “The irony is that the average consumer does not feel very powerful. They think that they are the recipients of whatever industry has put there for them to consume. Trust me, it’s the exact opposite. Those businesses spend billions of dollars to tally our votes. When we run an item past the supermarket scanner, we’re voting.” – Gary Hirshberg, founder of Stonyfield Farm. Hirshberg began with a sevencow farm and grew his business into the No. 3 yogurt provider in the country. “Actually, it’s a pretty easy decision to try to support things like organics or whatever it might be based on what the consumer wants. We see that and we react to it. If it’s clear that the customer wants it, it’s really easy to get behind it and to push forward and try to make that happen.” -- Tony Airosa, chief dairy purchaser for the nation’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, which recently began carrying organically-produced food in its store. Wal-Mart has since stopped carrying milk containing growth hormone.

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Facts from Food, Inc.  In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market. Today, the top four control more than 80% of the market.  In the 1970s, there were thousands of slaughterhouses producing the majority of beef sold. Today, we have only 13.  In 1998, the USDA implemented microbial testing for salmonella and E. coli 0157h7 so that if a plant repeatedly failed these tests, the USDA could shut down the plant. After being taken to court by the meat and poultry associations, the USDA no longer has that power.  In 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted only 9,164.  During the Bush administration, the head of the FDA was the former executive VP of the National Food Processors Association.  During the Bush administration, the chief of staff at the USDA was the former chief lobbyist for the beef industry in Washington.  Prior to renaming itself an agribusiness company, Monsanto was a chemical company that produced, among other things, DDT and Agent Orange.  In 1996 when it introduced Round-Up Ready Soybeans, Monsanto controlled only 2% of the U.S. soybean market. Now, over 90% of soybeans in the U.S. contain Monsanto’s patented gene.  Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas was an attorney at Monsanto from 1976 to 1979. After his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion in a case that helped Monsanto enforce its seed patents.  The average chicken farmer invests over $500,000 and makes only $18,000 a year.  32,000 hogs a day are killed in Smithfield Hog Processing Plant in Tar Heel, N.C, which is the largest slaughterhouse in the world.  The average American eats over 200 lbs. of meat a year.

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 30% of the land in the U.S. is used for planting corn.  The modern supermarket now has, on average, 47,000 products, the majority of which is being produced by only a handful of food companies.  70% of processed foods have some genetically modified ingredient.  SB63 Consumer Right to Know measure requiring all food derived from cloned animals to be labeled as such passed the California state legislature before being vetoed in 2007 by Governor Schwarzenegger, who said that he couldn’t sign a bill that pre-empted federal law.  Corn products include: ketchup, cheese, Twinkies, batteries, peanut butter, Cheez-Its, salad dressings, Coke, jelly, Sweet & Low, syrup, juice, Kool-Aid, charcoal, diapers, Motrin, meat and fast food.  Corn, which is the main ingredient in animal feed, is also used as a food additive. Those products commonly include: Cellulose, Xylitol, Maltodextrin, Ethylene, Gluten, Fibersol-2, Citrus Cloud Emulsion, Inosital, Fructose, Calcium Stearate, Saccharin, Sucrose, Sorbital, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Citric Acid, Di-glycerides, Semolina, Sorbic Acid, Alpha Tocopherol, Ethyl Lactate, Polydextrose, Xantham Gum, White Vinegar, Ethel Acetate, Fumaric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Baking Powder, Zein, Vanilla Extract, Margarine, and Starch.  1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes; Among minorities, the rate will be 1 in 2.  E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks have become more frequent in America, whether it be from spinach or jalapenos. In 2007, there were 73,000 people sickened from the E. coli virus.  Organics is the fastest growing food segment, increasing 20% annually.

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Q&A with Producer/Director Robert Kenner Co-Producer/Food Expert Eric Schlosser, Food Expert Michael Pollan and Producer Elise Pearlstein
How did this film initially come about? Kenner: Eric Schlosser and I had been wanting to do a documentary version of his book, Fast Food Nation. And, for one reason or another, it didn't happen. By the time Food, Inc. started to come together, we began talking and realized that all food has become like fast food, and all food is being created in the same manner as fast food. How has fast food changed the food we buy at the supermarket? Schlosser: The enormous buying power of the fast food industry helped to transform the entire food production system of the United States. So even when you purchase food at the supermarket, you’re likely to be getting products that came from factories, feedlots and suppliers that emerged to serve the fast food chains. How many years did it take to do this film and what were the challenges? Kenner: From when Eric and I began talking, about 6 or 7 years. The film itself about 2 ½ years. It has taken a lot longer than we expected because we were denied access to so many places. Pearlstein: When Robby brought me into the project, he was adamant about wanting to hear all sides of the story, but it was nearly impossible to gain access onto industrial farms and into large food corporations. They just would not let us in. It felt like it would have been easier to penetrate the Pentagon than to get into a company that makes breakfast cereal. The legal challenges on this film were also unique. We found it necessary to consult with a first amendment lawyer throughout the entire filming process. Who or what influenced your film? Kenner: This film was really influenced by Eric Schlosser and Fast Food Nation, but then as we were progressing and had actually gotten funding, it became very influenced as well by Michael Pollan and his book Omnivore’s Dilemma. And then, as we went out into the world, we became really incredibly influenced by a lot of the farmers we met. What was the most surprising thing you learned? Kenner: As we set out to find out how our food was made, I think the thing that really became most shocking is when we were talking to a woman, Barbara Kowalcyk, who had lost her son to eating a hamburger with E. coli, and she’s 10

now dedicated her life to trying to make the food system safer. It’s the only way she can recover from the loss of her child. But when I asked her what she eats, she told me she couldn't tell me because she would be sued if she answered. Or we see Carol possibly losing her chicken farm … or we see Moe, a seed cleaner who’s just being sued for amounts that there’s no way he can pay, even though he’s not guilty of anything. Then we realized there’s something going on out there that supersedes foods. Our rights are being denied in ways that I had never imagined. And it was scary and shocking. And that was my biggest surprise. So, what does our current industrialized food system say about our values as a nation? Pollan: It says we value cheap fast and easy when it comes to food like so many other things, and we have lost any connection to where our food comes from. Kenner: I met a cattle rancher and he said, you know, we used to be scared of the Soviet Union or we used to think we were so much better than the Soviet Union because we had many places to buy things. And we had many choices. We thought if we were ever taken over, we’d be dominated where we’d have to buy one thing from one company, and how that’s not the American way. And he said you look around now, and there’s like one or two companies dominating everything in the food world. We’ve become what we were always terrified of. And that just always haunted me – how could this happen in America? It seems very un-American that we would be so dominated, and then so intimidated by the companies that are dominating this marketplace. How has the revolving door relationship between giant food companies and Washington affected the food industry? Pearlstein: We discovered that the food industry has managed to shape a lot of laws in their favor. For example, massive factory farms are not considered real factories, so they are exempt from emissions standards that other factories face. A surprising degree of regulation is voluntary, not mandatory, which ends up favoring the industry. What have been the consequences for the American consumer? Kenner: Most American consumers think that we are being protected. But that is not the case. Right now the USDA does not have the authority to shut down a plant that is producing contaminated meat. The FDA and the USDA have had their inspectors cut back. And it’s for these companies now to self-police, and what we’ve found is, when there’s a financial interest involved, these companies would rather make the money and be sued than correct it. Self-policing has really just been a miserable failure. And I think that's been really quite harmful to the American consumer and to the American worker.

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Pearlstein: The food industry has succeeded in keeping some very important information about their products hidden from consumers. It’s outrageous that genetically modified foods don’t need to be labeled. Today more than 70% of processed foods in the supermarket are genetically modified and we have absolutely no way of knowing. Whatever your position, you should have the right to make informed choices, and we don’t. Now the FDA is contemplating whether or not to label meat and milk from cloned cows. It seems very basic that consumers should have the right to know if they’re eating a cloned steak. Is it possible to feed a nation of millions without this kind of industrialized processing? Pollan: Yes. There are alternative ways of producing food that could improve Americans’ health. Quality matters as much as quantity and yield is not the measure of a healthy food system. Quantity improves a population’s health up to a point; after that, quality and diversity matters more. And it’s wrong to assume that the industrialized food system is feeding everyone well or keeping the population healthy. It’s failing on both counts. There is a section of the film that reveals how illegal immigrants are the faceless workers that help to bring food to our tables. Can you give us a profile of the average worker? Schlosser: The typical farm worker is a young, Latino male who does not speak English and earns about $10,000 a year. The typical meatpacking worker has a similar background but earns about twice that amount. A very large proportion of the nation’s farm workers and meatpackers are illegal immigrants. Why are there so many Spanish-speaking workers? Kenner: The same thing that created obesity in this country, which is large productions of cheap corn, has put farmers out of work in foreign countries, whether it’s Mexico, Latin America or around the world. And those farmers can no longer grow food and compete with the U.S.’ subsidized food. So a lot of these farmers needed jobs and ended up coming into this country to work in our food production. And they have been here for a number of years. But what’s happened is that we’ve decided that it’s no longer in the best interests of this country to have them here. But yet, these companies still need these people and they’re desperate, so they work out deals where they can have a few people arrested at a certain time so it doesn’t affect production. But it affects people’s lives. And these people are being deported, put in jail and sent away, but yet, the companies can go on and it really doesn’t affect their assembly line. And what happens is that they are replaced by other, desperate immigrant groups. Could the American food industry exist without illegal immigrants?

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Schlosser: The food industry would not only survive, but it would have a much more stable workforce. We would have much less rural poverty. And the annual food bill of the typical American family would barely increase. Doubling the hourly wage of every farm worker in this country might add $50 at most to a family’s annual food bill. What are scientists doing to our food and is it about helping food companies’ bottom line or about feeding a growing population? Schlosser: Some scientists are trying to produce foods that are healthier, easier to grow, and better for the environment. But most of the food scientists are trying to create things that will taste good and can be made cheaply without any regard to their social or environmental consequences. I am not opposed to food science. What matters is how that science is used … and for whose benefit. Can a person eat a healthy diet from things they buy in the supermarket if they are not buying organic? If so, how? Pollan: Yes, the supermarkets still carry real food. The key is to shop the perimeter of the store and stay out of the middle where most of the processed food lurks. How are low-income families impacted at the supermarket? Kenner: Things are really stacked against low-income families in this country. There is a definite desire of the food companies to sell more product to these people because they have less time, they’re working really hard and they have fewer hours in their day to cook. And the fast food is very reasonably priced. Coke is selling for less than water. So when these things are happening, it’s easier for low-income families sometimes to just go in and have a quick meal if they don’t get home until 10 o’clock at night. At the moment, our food is unfairly priced towards bad food. And, in the same way that tobacco companies went after low-income people because they were heavy users, food companies are going after low-income people because they can market to them, they can make it look very appealing. What can low-income families do to eat healthier? Schlosser: As much as possible, they can avoid cheap, processed foods and fast foods. It’s possible to eat well and inexpensively. But it takes more time and effort to do so, and that’s not easy when you’re working two jobs and trying to just to keep your head above water. The sad thing is that these cheap foods are ultimately much more expensive when you factor in the costs of all the health problems that come later.

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Pollan: It’s possible to eat healthy food on a budget but it takes a greater investment of time. If you are willing to cook and plan ahead, you can eat local, sustainable food on a budget. If someone wanted to get involved and help change the system, what would you suggest they do? Pearlstein: I hope people will want to be more engaged in the process of eating and shopping for food. We have learned that there are a lot of different fronts to fight on this one, and people can see what most resonates with them. Maybe it’s really just “voting with their forks” – eating less meat, buying different food, buying from companies they feel good about, going to farmers markets. People can try to find a CSA – community supported agriculture – where you buy a share in a farm and get local food all year. That really helps support farmers and you get fresh, seasonal food. On the local political level, people can work on food access issues, like getting more markets into low income communities, getting better lunch programs in schools, trying to get sodas out of schools. And on a national level, we’ve learned that reforming the Farm Bill would have a huge influence on our food system. It requires some education, but it is something we should care about. What do you hope people take away from this film? Schlosser: I hope it opens their eyes. Kenner: That things can change in this country. It changed against the big tobacco companies. We have to influence the government and readjust these scales back into the interests of the consumer. We did it before, and we can do it again. Pollan: A deeper knowledge of where their food comes from and a sense of outrage over how their food is being produced and a sense of hope and possibility of the alternatives springing up around the country. Food, Inc. is the most important and powerful film about our food system in a generation.

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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Robert Kenner (producer/director) Award-winning filmmaker Robert Kenner worked for over six years to bring Food, Inc. to the screen. Kenner’s previous films have played theatrically, on television, and to President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore at the White House. Prior to directing Food, Inc., Robert Kenner received the 2006 Peabody, the Emmy for exceptional merit in Non-Fiction Film-Making, and the Greirson (British Documentary) for his previous film Two Days in October. Two Days is characteristic of Kenner’s keen sense of authenticity and his passionate quest to present the truth. His brilliant interviews highlight a director who creates a compassionate atmosphere for his subjects to reveal their intimate stories. The Boston Globe review noted that, “If you could watch only one program to grasp what the Vietnam War did to the U.S….Two Days…would be a great choice…. It is profound.” Robert’s other notable work includes his co-filmmaking endeavor on the Martin Scorsese documentary, The Blues Series. His The Road to Memphis included interviews with legendary B.B.King. Newsweek called it, “as fine a film ever made about American music” and “the unadulterated gem of the Scorsese Series.” His exceptional documentaries for The American Experience include War Letters, reflecting on the experiences of American soldiers and their loved ones from the Revolutionary War to the Gulf War. War Letters weaves a seamless tapestry of archival footage, historical recreations and readings by Kevin Spacey, Joan Allen, Bill Paxton, Edward Norton and others. Other films include his numerous specials for National Geographic. Robby’s rich inspirational and emotional style drive Don’t Say Goodbye, which was screened at the White House for President Clinton and Vice President Gore. It was the winner of The Cable Ace, Genesis, and The Emmy awards. Robert’s skills with real people brought him to the attention of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners where he directed four pieces for eBay. Robert’s commercial for Hallmark is another illustration of his ability to integrate the ease of his interviews and touching remembrances into a story. The “Fran” spot was named to Adweek’s list of “Best Spots of the year”. Recently Hewlett Packer hired Kenner to tell the history of their company. Origins won two Tele awards for Best Biography and Best Motivational film, as well as the Aegis Award. http://robertkennerfilmsrt Kenner

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Elise Pearlstein (producer) Elise Pearlstein has been producing and writing film and television documentaries for over 10 years. Prior to producing Food, Inc., Pearlstein produced Oscar-winning filmmaker Jessica Yu’s documentary Protagonist about four men from different backgrounds who end up on a similar path of extremism. The film premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically by IFC Films and Red Envelopment Entertainment. Pearlstein directed, produced and executive produced The Million Dollar Recipe, which became a critics’ favorite when it bowed on Bravo in 2005. The featurelength film followed seven contestants – both housewives and female executives – as they competed to win the coveted Pillsbury Bake-Off and take home a million dollar prize. From 2000 to 2005, Pearlstein produced and wrote five, prime-time documentaries for NBC’s Tom Brokaw and the late ABC news anchor Peter Jennings. Her award-winning NBC special for Brokaw, Your Kids, Our Schools, Tough Choices, probed inequities in public education and the controversial issue of school choice. For Jennings, she wrote and produced two episodes of his critically acclaimed, six-hour series, In Search of America. God’s Country, explored the culture clash of science and faith in a bible-belt town; Headquarters, examined globalization through Frito Lay’s efforts to spread potato chips to unsuspecting consumers worldwide. She also wrote and produced the MSNBC documentary, No Way Out: The Fall of Saigon. Smoke and Mirrors: A History of Denial, a feature documentary she co-produced and co-wrote about the tobacco industry’s sordid history, was short listed for the 2000 Academy Awards and won the 2001 Prism Award. Pearlstein is currently collaborating with Jessica Yu on a documentary about a maverick, deaf educator who has devoted her life to teaching communication skills to language-deprived, deaf adults. Eric Schlosser (co-producer) Eric Schlosser is an investigative journalist, best-selling author, playwright and a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly. He is considered a leading authority on the impacts of industrialized agriculture.

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In 1998, Schlosser wrote an investigative piece on the fast food industry for Rolling Stone. What began as a two-part article for the magazine turned into a groundbreaking book: “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All American Meal” (2001). The book helped to change the way that America thinks about what it eats. “Fast Food Nation” was on The New York Times bestsellers list for more than two years as well as on bestseller lists in Canada, Great Britain and Japan. It has been translated into more than 20 languages. The book later became the basis for Participant’s feature film Fast Food Nation. Directed by Richard Linklater and released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fast Food Nation told the story of a fast food restaurant marketing director (Greg Kinnear) who discovers the ugly truth behind the making of hamburgers and the treatment of illegal Mexican immigrants. Schlosser co-wrote the screenplay and executive produced the film. Schlosser’s second book, “Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market” (2003), explored the nation’s growing underground economy. The “Strawberry Fields” essay section of the book examines America’s exploitation and harsh treatment of illegal immigrants who toil in fields and factories to provide the nation’s food supply. The book also became a New York Times’ bestseller. Hoping to counter the enormous amount of fast food marketing aimed at children, Schlosser decided to write a book that would help young people understand where their food comes from and how it can affect their health. Co-written with Charles Wilson, “Chew on This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Fast Food” became a New York Times bestseller in the spring of 2006. In 2007, Schlosser served as an executive producer of There Will Be Blood, a film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and based upon the novel, “Oil!” by Upton Sinclair. In recent years, two of Schlosser’s plays have been produced in London: Americans (2003) at the Arcola Theatre and We the People (2007) at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. He is currently at work on a book about America’s prison system. Schlosser has been a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly since 1996. His work has also appeared in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, the Nation, and The New Yorker. He is the recipient of both a National Magazine Award and a Sidney Hillman Foundation Award for his investigative reporting. Richard Pearce (co-producer, cinematographer) Richard Pearce began as a cinematographer of award-winning documentaries in the late 1960’s before becoming a feature film director. He currently serves as a Governor of the documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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Pearce’s early camera credits include three Oscar®-winning documentaries: Woodstock, Marjoe, and Interviews with My Lai Veterans. His final project before becoming a feature film director was the controversial Vietnam War documentary Hearts and Minds, which was directed by Peter Davis. For over a year and a half Pearce served as both cinematographer and associate producer on the film, helping to navigate the film through a quagmire of political and legal obstacles so the film could be shown to the public. Hearts and Minds eventually screened at the Cannes Film Festival and went onto win the Academy Award for best documentary film. For Food, Inc., Pearce is once again in dual roles – as both producer and director of photography. The film also marks yet another collaboration between Pearce and Robert Kenner. The two previously paired on The Road to Memphis, a film that was one of seven documentaries in a series about blues music. Financed by Paul Allen and presented by Martin Scorsese, The Blues was broadcast over seven consecutive nights on PBS. Pearce directed and Kenner produced The Road to Memphis, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was released theatrically throughout the world after its U.S. television debut. Pearce’s feature film work includes Country, which brought Jessica Lange an Academy Award® nomination and was chosen to open The New York Film Festival; the highly praised, racially charged drama The Long Walk Home, which paired Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek; Leap of Faith with Steve Martin, Debra Winger, and Liam Neeson; No Mercy which starred Richard Gere and Kim Basinger; and A Family Thing with Robert Duvall and James Earl Jones. His feature film directorial debut came in 1981 with the period drama, Heartland, which earned the grand prize Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and also opened the New York Film Festival’s first look at “American Independents.” Pearce is currently working with Academy Award® winning actor Forest Whitaker on developing a film project for HBO. He also executive produced The Judge and the General, a feature documentary that had its world premiere in May 2008 at the San Francisco Film Festival. Melissa Robledo (co-producer) Melissa Robledo has worked alongside filmmaker Robert Kenner for the past ten years on a variety of projects, including PBS’ critically acclaimed American Experience series.

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Robledo co-produced War Letters, one of the more memorable and poignant films in the series. Based on the book by Andrew Carroll, War Letters presented stories about American soldiers through their own words – using correspondence they had written from the battlefield to loved ones. Kenner produced and directed the film while such actors as Edward Norton, Joan Allen, Kevin Spacey, and Bill Paxton lent their voices to the project. She also co-produced The Road to Memphis, a documentary by Richard Pearce and Robert Kenner and executive produced by Martin Scorsese. The film traces the rise of music legend B.B. King who got his start in 1950s Memphis, a city rich in Blues history. As a researcher, she worked on Two Days in October, a story about two incidents that turned America against the war in Vietnam. The film won the Emmy-Award for exceptional merit in non-fiction filmmaking in 2006 and a Peabody Award for PBS. Robledo began her career as an archival researcher and assistant editor on John Brown’s Holy War, a bio-documentary about the great abolitionist and religious leader whose execution escalated tensions between the North and the South and led to the outbreak of The Civil War. Produced and directed by Kenner, the film began her long association with the filmmaker. William Pohlad (executive producer) As the founder of River Road Entertainment, Mr. Pohlad has been producing quality films for more than twenty years. His ability to seek out unconventional material and bring it to light has established him not only as a producer unafraid to take creative risks but also one of the most influential forces at work in independent film. Mr. Pohlad is currently producing Terrence Malick’s highly anticipated feature The Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. His recent credits include director Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain and Lust Caution, Penn’s Into the Wild, and the late Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion. Other credits include Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, I’m Going to Tell You a Secret and Chicago 10. Robin Schorr (executive producer) Robin Schorr is head of creative production for River Road Entertainment. Previously, Ms. Schorr served as president of production for Lionsgate-based Sobini Films where she produced the Universal Pictures release Peaceful Warrior, which starred Nick Nolte, and Paramount’s The Prince and Me, which starred Julia Stiles.

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She was the former head of production for Trimark Films where she oversaw Frailty starring Matthew McConaughey and Skipped Parts, with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Drew Barrymore. She also executive produced Attraction, which paired Tom Everett Scott and Gretchen Mol and Under Heaven, which starred Joely Richardson. Ms. Schorr also held senior executive positions at the Kennedy/Marshall company and Laurence Mark Productions and currently serves as executive VP of Women in Film. Jeff Skoll (executive producer) Jeff Skoll founded Participant Productions (now Participant Media) in January, 2004 and serves as Chairman. Skoll's vision for Participant is to create a long term, independent, global media company to produce and finance entertainment focused on long term benefit to society. Skoll most recently served as executive producer on Participant’s films Good Night, and Good Luck, North Country, Syriana, American Gun, An Inconvenient Truth, The World According to Sesame Street, Fast Food Nation, Angels in the Dust, Jimmy Carter Man from Plains, Darfur Now, The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson’s War, Chicago 10, The Visitor and Standard Operating Procedure. Diane Weyermann (executive producer) As Participant Media’s Executive Vice President, Documentary Films, Diane Weyermann is responsible for Participant Media’s documentary slate. This includes the 2008 releases, Brett Morgen’s Chicago 10 and Errol Morris’ Standard Operating Procedure, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, as well as the 2007 releases Angels in the Dust, Jimmy Carter Man from Plains and Darfur Now and 2006’s Oscar® winning An Inconvenient Truth. Prior to joining Participant in October 2005, Weyermann was the Director of the Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program. Before that, she was the Director of the Open Society Institute New York's Arts and Culture Program for seven years. In addition to her work with contemporary art centers and culture programs in the Soros Foundation network, which spans over thirty countries, she launched the Soros Documentary Fund (which later became the Sundance Documentary Fund) in 1996. Since the inception of the Fund, she has been involved with the production of over three hundred documentary films from around the world. Kim Roberts (editor) Kim Roberts has been editing award-winning documentary features for eight years. She worked with Robert Kenner previously on Two Days in October, which was part of the PBS’ series American Experience. The film won an

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Emmy Award for exceptional merit in non-fiction filmmaking and also earned PBS a Peabody Award for distinguished programming. She was the editor on Daughter from Danag, the moving story of a 22-year-old woman who journeys from America to Vietnam to find her biological mother. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature and won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2002. Roberts’ other work includes Autism: The Musical, which aired on HBO in 2007 to critical acclaim. The film won five audience awards at various film festivals around the country and landed on the Oscar short list. In 2006, Roberts was nominated by the WGA for documentary screenplay for co-writing The Fall of Fujimori, a film she also edited. Her work on the feature-length documentary Lost Boys of Sudan propelled an Independent Spirit Award win and was named to the Oscar short list for documentaries in 2004. And A Hard Straight, a documentary about parolees, took the Grand Prize at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. Daddy & Papa won 11 Best Documentary awards at film festivals. In addition, Roberts collaborates with her husband, Eli Despres, on feature films. In 2004, they wrote, produced, directed and edited the coming-of-age thriller Wilderness Survival for Girls. The film, distributed by ContentFilms and Image Entertainment, premiered in competition at the Los Angeles Film Festival and won Jury Prize for Best Performance for lead actress Jeanette Brox. Roberts began her career in 1999 on Long Night's Journey into Day, a feature documentary about Apartheid that was nominated for an Oscar and won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize. She earned her Master in Documentary Film Production from Stanford University. Mark Adler (music) Mark Adler is a longtime collaborator of Food, Inc. filmmaker Robert Kenner, having scored nine of his documentaries. As part of the Martin Scorsese-produced series, The Blues, he contributed original music to The Road To Memphis, which was directed by Richard Pearce and produced by Kenner. He also scored the Pearce-directed television movie, Thicker Than Blood. Over the years, Adler has scored numerous films and TV projects. He is a regular at the Sundance Film Festival, having scored almost a dozen films that

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debuted there. These include the Audience Award-winning Miramax film "Picture Bride," the soundtrack of which was released by Virgin Records, with the film’s main title featured in the compilation, "Miramax Films Greatest Hits." Other feature credits include Paramount Classics’ Focus, which starred William H. Macy; Wayne Wang’s Eat A Bowl of Tea; Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School, which paired Robert Carlyle and Marisa Tomei; and the upcoming Summer 2008 release Bottle Shock, which features Alan Rickman, Chris Pine, and Bill Pullman. He can be heard playing piano on his scores for Picture Bride, Focus, Eat A Bowl of Tea, and Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School. In 2000, he composed the new theme for PBS’ series, American Experience. In 1999, he won an Emmy for his work on HBO's The Rat Pack for director Rob Cohen and garnered another Emmy nomination for Hallmark Entertainment’s Forbidden Territory: Stanley's Search for Livingstone, which starred Aidan Quinn and Nigel Hawthorne Other notable TV movie scores include CBS’ Flowers For Algernon and TNT’s The Ron Clark Story, directed by Randa Haines. In addition, he has scored numerous National Geographic specials, two Hallmark Hall of Fame movies and three Oscar-nominated feature documentaries. Previously, he served as the music editor for numerous films, including Godfather III, Blue Velvet, and Milos Forman’s Amadeus, which won eight Academy Awards including best picture. He has played keyboards for a number of bands, including the Heart of Gold Band, fronted by former Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux. Adler serves on the National Awards Committee of Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and is a vp of the Society of Composers and Lyricists.

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About Magnolia Pictures Magnolia Pictures (www.magpictures.com) is the theatrical and home entertainment distribution arm of the Wagner/Cuban Companies, a vertically integrated group of media properties co-owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban that also include the Landmark Theatres chain, the production company 2929 Productions, and high definition cable networks HDNet and HDNet Movies. Magnolia’s 2008 slate included such critically acclaimed films as James Marsh’s Man On Wire and Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In. Magnolia’s upcoming 2009 slate includes James Gray’s Two Lovers, The Great Buck Howard starring John Malkovich, Guillermo Arriaga’s The Burning Plain, documentary and festival favorite Food, Inc Michael Pollen and Eric Schlosser, Anne Fontaine’s The Girl From Monaco, Lynn Shelton’s Humpday and much more. About Participant Media Participant Media is a Los Angeles-based entertainment company that focuses on socially relevant, commercially viable feature films, documentaries and television, as well as publishing and digital media. Participant Media is headed by CEO Jim Berk and was founded in 2004 by philanthropist Jeff Skoll, who serves as Chairman. Ricky Strauss is President. Participant exists to tell compelling, entertaining stories that bring to the forefront real issues that shape our lives. For each of its projects, Participant creates extensive social action and advocacy programs which provide ideas and tools to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and community action. Participant films include The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson’s War, Darfur Now, An Inconvenient Truth, Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, Standard Operating Procedure and The Visitor. About River Road Entertainment Since its inception, River Road Entertainment has emerged as one of the leading independent production companies known for developing, producing and financing unconventional films and documentaries that astonish, inspire, reveal and provoke. After establishing its reputation for ground-breaking material with the Academy Award® winning Brokeback Mountain, the company went on to produce an impressive slate of acclaimed films, including Sean Penn’s Into the Wild, Ang Lee’s Lust Caution, Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion, as well as Fur – An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey, Jr. In addition to Food, Inc., the Company has produced several notable documentaries including Brett Morgen’s Chicago 10 and I’m Going to Tell You a Secret, featuring Madonna. River Road is currently in production on

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Terrence Malick’s highly anticipated The Tree of Life starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn.

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CREDITS
Participant Media & River Road Entertainment Present A Film by Robert Kenner DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Richard Pearce CO-PRODUCERS Eric Schlosser Richard Pearce Melissa Robledo MUSIC Mark Adler EDITOR Kim Roberts EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS William Pohlad Jeff Skoll Robin Schorr Diane Weyermann PRODUCERS Robert Kenner Elise Pearlstein DIRECTED BY Robert Kenner Many thanks to those who let us in (in order of appearance) Eric Schlosser Richard Lobb, National Chicken Council Vince Edwards, Tyson Grower Carole Morison, Former Perdue Grower Michael Pollan

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Troy Roush, Roush Family Farms Larry Johnson, Iowa State University Allen Trenkle, Iowa State University Patricia Buck, CFI Barbara Kowalyck, CFI Representative Diana DeGette Representative Phil English Eldon Roth, Beef Products, Inc. (BPI) The Orozco Family Rosa Soto and Healthy Teens on the Move Joel Salatin, Polyface Farms Eduardo Peña Gary Hirshberg, Stonyfield Farm Lilac Ridge Farm Wal-Mart Moe Parr, Custom Seed and Grain Cleaning David Runyon, Runyon Farms Stephen R. Pennell William P. Kealey Special Consultant Writers Michael Pollan Robert Kenner Elise Pearlstein Kim Roberts Melissa Robledo Bigstar Sascha Goldhor Jay Redmond Chris Baron Jay Redmond Jon Else Shana Hagan Don Lenzer Terry McAdle Stephen McCarthy Justin Sprecher Brett Wiley

Post Production Supervisor Main Title & Graphics Associate Producers Additional Photography

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Sound Recording

Steuart Pearce Susumu Tokunow Mario Cardenas Jim Choi Ben Clore Eddie O’Conner Douglas Dunderdale Ernesto “Cato” Estrada Claudia Katayanagi Bruce Perlman Paul Rusnak George Shafnaker John Slochum

Lighting Design Archival Research

Jon Tower Melissa Robledo Sascha Goldhor Ricky Strauss Jeff Ivers Buffy Shutt Kathy Jones Courtney Sexton

For Participant Media

For River Road Entertainment Mitch Horwits Frank Hildebrand Michael Reinarts Deborah Zipser Supermarket Shoot Director of Photography Production Designer Key Grip Best Boy Assistant Camera Art Department Gonzolo Amat David Courtemarche Rick Stribling Matt Devitt Jonathan Peter Wolf Amer Anna Branson

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William Branson Jory Felice Marguerite Kenner Kamil Korus James Priest Production Assistants Singli Agnew Jill Armstrong April Ciaccio Lincoln Else Tess Kenner Chris Murdock Ryan Pratt Jay Shepley Cody Terrell Derek Boonstra Michael Weinreich Chloe Bystrom Karen Childs – BAM Transcription

Interns Transcription

Information Technology Support Stephen La Rocque Assistant Editor Post Production Supervisor On-Line Editor Additional On-Line Editors DaVinci Colorist Jay Redmond Bill Newcomb Dan Wilken Chris A. Peterson Ryan Dalley Brian George EFILM

Arri Laser Film Recording Provided by EFILM Project Manager Music Supervisors Sound Mixed By

Vanessa Glavez Amine Ramer Jack Baran Gary Bourgeois Bill Freesh

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Mix Technician Sound Editorial Services Supervising Sound Editor Sound Editors

Fred W. Peck III AnEFX, Inc. Jack Levy Daniel Colman Mark Peterson Glen Oyabe Vince Balunas Sara Bencivenga Sam Lewis Doug Madick Rick Partlow

Assistant Sound Editor Foley Mixer Foley Artists

Music Orchestrated and Conducted by Mark Adler Guitars Bass Drums Violin Keyboards Concertmaster Violins Peter Maunu and Paul Viapiano Bob Glaub Matt Laug Charlie Bisharat Mark Adler Rene Mandel Grace Oh, Jennie Leem, Radu Pieptea, Lorand Lokuszta, Sungil Lee, Susan Rishik, Mark Robertson, Marc Sazar, Joel Pargman, Kristine Hedewall, Ashoko Thiagarajian, Hiam Strum, Yelena Yegoryian Janet Lakatos, Bob Becker, Robert Berg, Luke Maurer David Low, Dave Speltz, Tim Loo, Vanessa Freebarin-Smith Nico Abondolo, Nico Philippon Heather Clark Tom Boyd

Violas Cellos Basses Flute Oboe

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Clarinet Bassoon Contractor Music preparation Assistant Engineer Recorded and mixed by

Gary Bovyer Damion Montano David Low Julie and John Eidsvoog Aaron Walk Daryn Roven and Mark Adler at Capitol Studios and Bucketworks South

Stock Footage & Photographs Provided By ABCNEWS VideoSource AGStockUSA, Inc. America By Air AP Archive BBC Motion Gallery Bill Mitchell/Blue Sky Stock Footage Larry Burke, Flying Cloud Moving Pictures CNN ImageSource CORBIS Jon Else Footage World FootageBank HD FRAMEPOOL Getty Images High Plains Films The Humane Society of the United States Ana Joanes KVIE Library of Congress MacNeil Lehrer Production MacDonald & Associates Mosaic Films National Archives and Records Administration National Chicken Council NBC News Archives Poultry Research Center of Alberta Canada Radio Pictures Streamline Films Inc. WGBH Media Library and Archives Legal Services Provided By Victor Kovner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

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Robert Wise Very Special Thanks Special Thanks Cara Mertes The Armstrong Family Judith Belzer Steve Bjerklie Richard Branca, Sony Post Production Facilities Scott Z. Burns Mike Callicrate Consumer Federation of America Troy Cowen and Family Al Christian Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro DesignTown USA Joanie Diener Aloma Dew Rick Dove Margaret Drain Ted Driscoll Earthbound Farms Bernadine Edwards Julie Eisenberg Lenny Feinstein Kage Glanz Harold Goldstein, California Center for Public Health Advocacy Michael Hanson, Consumer’s Union Nathanial Johnson Richard Kassabaum Marguerite Kenner Martin Kenner Andrew Kimbrell, Bill Freese and The Center for Food Safety Fred Kirschenmann The Kowalcyk Family Diana LaPointe, SonyBMG Dale Lasater Don Lenzer Michael Levy Richard Linklater Ralph Loglisci and the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production Bill Marler, Marler Clark Alice Markowitz

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Kathy Murphy Marion Nestle North Carolina Pork Council Nick Noxon Chris Petersen and the Iowa Farmer’s Union Emily Rice Bobby Roth Mike Semple Whitley Stephensen Jeremy Thomas Alice Waters Alison & Paul Wiediger, Au Naturel Farm Charles Wilson Joshua Wilton House Completion Guarantor Production Insurance Distribution Advisor Film Finances Inc. DeMille Halliburton, DeWitt Stern Group Josh Braun/Submarine Entertainment LLC SUNNY L.A. Written by Nancy Peterson Performed by Great American Swing Band THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND Words & Music by Woody Guthrie Published by TRO – Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI) Performed by Bruce Springsteen Courtesy of Columbia Records By arrangement with SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT Developed with American Documentary, Inc. This film has been carbon offset. Carbon offsets by NativeEnergy DOLBY License E Film

Copyright © MMVIII Perfect Meal, LLC, All Rights Reserved Country of First Publication: United States of America

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Perfect Meal LLC is the author of this motion picture for purposes of the Berne Convention and all national laws giving effect thereto. THIS MOTION PICTURE IS PROTECTED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER COUNTRIES. UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR EXHIBITION MAY RESULT IN CIVIL LIABILITY AND CRIMINAL PROSECUTION. Read FOOD, INC., the PublicAffairs Trade Paperback Participant Media River Road Entertainment Go to takepart.com/foodinc

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