I went to see FOOD Inc at the Everyman Cinema in Winchester a few weeks ago. I knew that it was an examination of the US food system and, to be honest, I thought it would hold few surprises for me. I reckoned that I knew the key issues facing the way America feeds itself. But I was wrong.

The film covers all aspects of the way food is produced and how the tight net of legislation has been put into place to protect the vast businesses that effectively control it. There's an interview with a chicken 'farmer' who speaks out about the company that she is contracted to. She had 'old style' chicken sheds with widows and natural ventilation. The company insisted she 'upgraded' to the new version where the animals are kept permanently in the dark. She refused to get further into debt and so she lost her contract and her livelihood.

Then there was the outrageous case of a man who helped farmers save soya bean seed for use the next year. Monsanto, who control 95% of the soya crop, sued him and forced him out of business because they claimed he was breaking patent law. He ran up a legal bill of $400,000 before capitulating.

Most shocking was the case of a woman whose two year old son had contracted e-coli from an infected burger. He died within 12 days. She was unable to answer the question put to her about how she had changed her eating habits because, she said, she would have been sued for libel if she did!

The film is an eye opener and a call to all of us concerned about the way our food is produced to guard against the UK's system moving in the way of the US one. Most of the developments over there have been made in order to get greater efficiency and in the process completely commodified all aspects of what is put into supermarkets. The inhumane treatment of animals and the people who toil in the processing units is already in place in the UK. Last week the BBC reported on the appalling treatment of migrant workers here who are effectively slaves in the pursuit of cheap supermarket meat.

I would urge everyone to see the film.