Must-watch: the hard-hitting Netflix documentary Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food
A documentary that will turn your stomach. That’s how you could describe the Netflix documentary Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food in one sentence. It’s about food safety in America and how deeply concerning it has been for years. The film also painfully exposes that authorities are still not doing everything they can to optimize food safety as much as possible.
The documentary was directed by Stephanie Soechtig. In a ninety-minute film, she shows exactly how deep-rooted the problem is in America. She speaks to scientists, victims, victims’ families and authorities, creating as complete a picture of the situation as possible. She does that well. I was genuinely shocked afterward.
Jack In The Box
The documentary begins with a look back at 1993 in America. That year, a massive E. coli outbreak occurred, eventually reaching four states. The reason: undercooked hamburgers from fast-food chain Jack In The Box. 732 people became infected—often resulting in hospital admissions—and four children died. The father of one of the deceased children speaks about what the entire situation did to him and his family. In the end, it turns out that Jack In The Box had completely ignored important safety regulations. Such as the requirement that hamburgers be cooked at 68 degrees Celsius: the temperature that kills E. coli bacteria.
Romaine lettuce
Baby spinach and romaine lettuce also caused several outbreaks in the years following the Jack In The Box scandal. Because it turns out there’s a nasty—and disease-causing—story behind those too. For example, the documentary shows that the irrigation systems on some American farms aren’t entirely clean. Next to fields full of lettuce, cows roam around, with their manure ending up in the water. Water that is eventually sprayed over the lettuce. The documentary filmmaker speaks to a girl who became infected with E. coli after eating contaminated lettuce. She came close to death and still suffers from serious kidney problems.
Chicken factories
Things are just as bizarre in American chicken factories. Perdue, one of the country’s largest chicken producers, makes it seem as though they’re doing absolutely everything they can to combat salmonella. For example, by using a certain system to check ‘how dirty’ the eggs are. Yet research conducted in the documentary shows that a large proportion of their eggs are ‘simply’ contaminated with salmonella. The response from Perdue’s owner: ‘Such a small sample doesn’t say anything.’
Weak excuses
What’s heartbreaking is that the authorities simply don’t seem to have things under control. There are weak excuses, vague terms and—if you ask me—some arrogant looks too. You can feel some of the officials being interviewed getting nervous about the documentary filmmaker Stephanie’s questions and comments. As if they may even realize themselves that something isn’t quite right. What I found most bizarre was that a female scientist who received millions from food producers to conduct research claims she is convinced that the money had no influence on her studies. Yeah right.
Watch it on Netflix
The documentary gets you thinking and makes you more alert too. So watch it—but not on an empty stomach.
Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food has been on Netflix since August 2. Watch the official trailer below.
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