Food, Inc. unveils power, problems of factory farms
 
Majority Leader, Martin Sheen and food policy advocates present eye-opening new film
 
SACRAMENTO – On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter), Participant Media and The Humane Society of the United States will host an early screening of the Robert Kenner film Food, Inc., which makes the claim, “You will never look at dinner the same way.”
 
Actor and activist Martin Sheen will serve as guest co-host, with special guests Alice Waters, the renowned California chef, and Food, Inc. producer Elise Pearlstein.
 
Food, Inc. shows us how America’s food supply is now dominated by a handful of corporations, focused on maximizing production and profits, often at the cost of health, safety and the environment.  These factory farms have found ways to grow a bigger chicken, or a tomato that won’t go bad, but they are also giving rise to new strains of E. coli and other harmful bacteria.  The film also looks at the obesity crisis in America.
 
Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.
 
Wednesday’s screening of Food, Inc. will be immediately followed by a policy discussion with Pearlstein, Waters, Sheen and Jennifer Fearing with HSUS.  Whole Foods Market will offer refreshments to screening participants at a 5:30 p.m. reception attended by the movie screening’s hosts.  You can learn more about the film, set to open June 12, at http://www.foodincmovie.com.
 
To RSVP for the screening, contact Alfredo Medina at alfredo.medina@sen.ca.gov.
 
*** MEDIA ADVISORY *** MEDIA ADVISORY *** MEDIA ADVISORY ***
 
WHO:             Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter);
                        Chairman, Senate Food and Agriculture Committee
                        Martin Sheen, actor, activist and guest co-host
                        Elise Pearlstein, “Food, Inc.” producer
                        Alice Waters, renowned California chef
                        Jennifer Fearing, Humane Society of the United States
 
WHAT:           Screening and policy discussion of “Food, Inc.”
 
WHEN:           Wednesday, May 20, 2009
                        5:30 – Reception; 6:30 – Film screening
 
WHERE:         The Crest Theater; 1013 K Street; Sacramento, CA

For Immediate Release                          Jennifer Hanson
May 19, 2009                                        916-651-4016