Food, Inc.

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Food Inc.'s director reminds us that real people are affected by our food system's problems.

RODALE NEWS, ANAHEIM, CA—Seasoned filmmaker Robert Kenner usually spends a few weeks discussing his documentaries after they debut then he moves on to his next project. But that was all before Food, Inc. Although the eye-opening Academy Award–nominated documentary about the industrial food system did not win an Oscar, there's still strong buzz surrounding the film months after its release. That's because food is so personal. And, as the current expanding recall of potentially salmonella-tainted processed food illustrates, the threat of unsafe food isn't going away.

Thursday afternoon, after a Food, Inc. screening kicked off the Natural Products Expo tradeshow event in Anaheim, California, Kenner addressed the very people who create some of our food products, and those who have a say in what shows up on supermarket shelves. He also discussed his own learning curve and provided updates on people who appeared in the film.

The first thing he wanted to get straight? "I'm not a Michael Moore. I had no preconceived notions," Kenner explained, admitting he really didn't know too much about the current state of the food system before diving into this project.

And along his journey, he found that the people he wanted to talk to the most—about 100 representatives at companies controlling the unhealthy food chain (like Monsanto)—were the least inclined to talk. "Those people did not want us thinking about the food system," he added. (To read some of the shocking revelations presented in Food, Inc., read Six Things Food Execs Aren't Telling You.)