THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.

From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply.

To make the point, Garcia goes to Saskatchewan grain farmer Percy Schmeiser to tell his story. He’s one of hundreds of grain farmers sued by Monsanto after the company’s Roundup Ready canola drifted into his field.

Monsanto accused Schmeiser of violating its Roundup Ready patent, even though Schmeiser never planted the GMO canola and didn’t want it in his field. He fought the suit where many other farmers settled, but lost, and must pay Monsanto to plant his next crop from his own seed.

Garcia travels with UC Berkeley’s Ignacio Chapela to Mexico, where hundreds of varieties of corn thrive in different climates and soils, to show how GMO crops threaten such biodiversity. It was here that Chapela found controversial evidence that genes of GMO corn had already jumped the border to contaminate native species.

The uncontrolled spread of genetically engineered plants — recently proven again with tests of GMO grasses — far beyond the fields where they were planted is one of the strongest arguments the film makes for introducing safeguards.

The film questions why the U.S. government hasn’t required GMO foods to undergo the rigorous testing required of medicines created by recombinant DNA technology, and why it has resisted efforts to require GMO labeling on foods, as Europe does.

Suggesting an answer, the film ticks off all the government officials who have links to Monsanto, including Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

It also briefly debunks claims that GMO foods are the answer to world starvation.

Ultimately, the film is a call to action — for people to think more about the consequences of their food choices and to use their consumer power to push for labeling and regulation.

While some people are seeking to ban GMOs, Garcia thinks labeling would drive GMO foods off the market, as it has in Europe.

"I want people to watch the film and say we have to stop this," says Garcia.

Long gone are the days when Garcia believed "we could have our healthy foods over here, and they could have their food over there. You do your thing and I do mine."