Most people never think about the companies that make their food beyond picking their favorites off the shelves at the grocery store. The total disconnect that most people have with food production and farming is growing every single day. Some don’t know what items grow in the fields or how meat is actually processed. And while this could be a product of our convenience lifestyle, it’s probably just what the major food producers want. The less you know about how their food is made and what they’re doing in their facilities – the better.
A new documentary exposing the food industry, The Smell of Money focuses on the pork industry in North Carolina. And this time, it’s not one of the documentaries that focuses on the treatment (or mistreatment) of the animals or the poor working conditions of the employees. Instead, The Smell of Money focuses on the communities in Eastern North Carolina that surround the pork plants and facilities and the health issues caused by the company’s practices. Similar to the Birdseye water contamination in Michigan and other corporate contamination cases in recent years – this one seems to not be getting the national attention that the communities hoped it would.
Filming over a decade of fighting and injustice, The Smell of Money focuses mostly on Elsie Herring and her family’s battle against the pork corporation. From stolen ancestral land to their properties constantly being sprayed with hog feces, and the fight being taken to through the court systems. The documentary shows in detail the issues, the fight, and the disregard given to the community. From racial tensions and intimidation tactics used on the film crew, it seems that the corporations will do anything to keep the story quiet.
The Smell of Money is heartbreaking and eye-opening at the same time. It will make you question more about the food that you purchase and eat, and what goes into producing what we consume every day. While most major food corporations are just names or labels for a lot of Americans, what many don’t realize or know is the cost that these companies can have on the environment or the people in the community around their factories. The documentary may just make you reconsider purchasing pork products in general but specifically from Smithfield with their utter disregard for the people and communities surrounding their facilities.
The Smell of Money is currently available to rent on Google Play, Amazon, Apple TV, and Youtube.
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About The Smell of Money:
The smell of money”—that’s what Big Pork calls the stench of pig waste in the air in eastern North Carolina, where much of the world’s bacon and barbecue is made. But to Elsie Herring and others who live near the state’s giant pig factories, the revolting odor is a call to battle against generations of injustice