The End of Food Documentaries?

by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Mar 15th 2011 @ 4:00PM

cattle agriculture Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images

Cramped cows and abused chickens are at risk of losing a powerful ally: filmmakers. A new bill up for House ruling in Iowa today would make whistle-blowing documentarians like Robert Kenner of "Food, Inc." fame criminals, reports the Iowa Independent. And similar action is on the table in Florida.

Any undercover videotaping or photographing of livestock or farm operations would be a classified aggravated misdemeanor calling for two years in prison and a penalty fine of up to $6,250; subsequent offenses would be class D felonies (five years and up to $7,500 in penalties). Tough break for journalism.

The risky work of undercover reporters has often led to legislation or at least further investigation of unjust acts, namely in the case of animal rights violations. We've all seen the videos -- cramped pigs with rail wounds; crippled chickens living in dark, feces-ridden barns. Heck, some even turned us vegetarian, or led us to greener (ahem, more humane) pastures. But that'd all be cutting room floor dust if this law were enacted mere years ago, or before YouTube turned it all insta-viral.

In 2008, PETA uncovered botched slaughters that prompted investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The operation was found to be repeat offenders of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and violations occurred under the watch of federal inspectors, notes the Iowa Independent. Last April, a video of two Iowa egg producers was released two weeks before the mass recall of 500 million eggs due to Salmonella outbreak. The footage was even used by the USDA.

So why outlaw it? Mega agribusinesses are pushing, naturally. (Who wants bad publicity?) It's the same kind of thinking that landed Oprah in court for libel after she spoke about mad cow disease on her talk show, and it'll make it that much harder for future injustices to surface. Those in the petitioning spirit can enter their signatures on Change.org.

To find where the good beef is, read our post on certification labels for humane operations.

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Filed Under: Farming, Food News
Tags: food documentaries, undercover farm video, undercover video

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-15-2011 @6:33PM johnkzin said... I want to see how quickly "freedom of the press" challenges come up for that one...
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3-16-2011 @12:31AM Robert said... Excellent story on this subject in the Iowa Register published the other day at http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110311/OPINION01/103110321/?odyssey=nav%7Chead
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3-16-2011 @7:14AM brian hook19 said...
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3-16-2011 @8:13AM LinC said... So would that make the "California cows" cheese commercials illegal? What about taking a picture with a phone camera? This is just agribusiness throwing its weight around. I don't see this law making it past a Federal free speech challenge.
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3-16-2011 @12:22PM Sarah Damian said... Whistleblowers have done so much historically when it comes to exposing horrific conditions in our food system. Find out how these laws could hurt these brave individuals on the Government Accountability Project's (national whistleblower advocacy organization) Food Integrity Campaign blog: http://foodwhistleblower.org/blog/164-proposed-anti-whistleblower-laws-threaten-food-integrity
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