E-Coli: The Deepest Player In The Food Industry

| McDonald’s is a food service retailer and aimed at making profit and its restaurants are owned and operated by local people worldwide. Its mission is becoming a leader in food sector and best customer service according to their needs. Their main product is food.

McDonald’s Corporation operates in the food service industry. The company has its restaurants in more than 100 countries of the world. McDonald’s, the world’s largest food chain is headquartered in U.S. having an employee population of 390000 (About McDonald's..., 2008).

Eric Schlosser shows the audience a very clear picture of how McDonald's has dominated not only the fast food industry but also has made its way onto other business fields. McDonald's is the biggest buyer of beef, pork, and potatoes. The company is the largest owner of retail space in the world, the biggest private operator of playgrounds, and one of the country's major toy distributors. "The fast-food industry now stands alone atop a massive food-industrial complex which has gained control of American agriculture," writes Schlosser.

I had recently experienced the terror that is referred to as E. Coli. I can tell you all about how it is much worse than the flu, although I will also be talking about this one girl I stumbled upon on the internet also. She had a life threatening experience that you can definitely experience if you go untreated when finding out that you have E. Coli. She had it for 19 days straight when I had been extremely lucky that I had only had it for eight days. I know that I definitely did not feel lucky, but doing this project has let me realize that I was very fortunate. Some people just chalk it up as the stomach flu like my mother and aunt did, but my grandmother knew it was something more than that. She ended up taking me to Med Express which is not a very good place to go if you want to get a work release on the same day or week by the way. On top of the issues I had at the doctor it was nonstop viral- like symptoms that only got worse until they got better.

All people are at risk of contracting the E. coli disease but some are at a higher risk than others. A person is at risk when they swallow the bacteria through food or water that is infected with the E. coli bacterium. Eating meat that is undercooked or consuming unpasteurized milk and raw milk products can also put a person at risk for the disease (Lim et al., 2010). People with low immune systems, the very young and elderly are very susceptible to contracting E. coli infection (Lim et al., 2010). Then people who are exposed to poor water systems and contaminated environments where E. coli bacterium can survive are also at high susceptibility to contract the disease (Lim et al., 2010). When a person is infected with E.coli disease there is a period of time before symptoms starts to appear. Each case is different and symptoms vary. Once a person is exposed to this bacterium, then incubation begins. The time period for incubation is approximately a period of two to ten days. However the whole disease, barring serious complications and

Though the mass production and distribution of food is already bad the company’s do not stop there they label erroneous advertisements on the packaging of food. The labels that read “all natural” or “farm grown are completely misleading and false advertisement. Apart from these issues, the documentary also highlights the harmful effects of modifying the animals’ diet both on everyone’s health and the environment. They go on about the story of Barbara Kowalcyk. She talks about her activism concerning food safety and how the death of her 2-year old son from E-coli encouraged her to stand up against the US Congress to pass a legislation for stricter and more effective USDA food regulations. That part of the documentary gave me an insight of the

What exactly is E.coli poisoning? What is the origin of e.coli? I always had these question in mind and decided to do this research on this topic because it has always been a subject during these past few years and it's becoming a topic over the news. As I was doing my research on the topic is then when I knew that the name E.Coli that we always see wasn’t the actual name of it. Its name is called Escherichia Coli and that there a few different types of e.coli which I never even knew of. I never thought of what could happen if someone gets infected with e.coli or how cautious we should be trying to stay away from it. Is it also something not just us to prevent it but also the way it gets into the foods we eat. It’s best to know and understand how it could become a big issue even if you are careful with how to handle it. How do actually keep e.coli away from us how should the government make sure the rates of food contamination decrease?

shows how the consumers are affected by the food industry. The audience can see that corn is very cheap so it is fed to the cows because it makes them grow fast. The cow cannot digest the corn properly because their body is not used to it so this develop the bacteria E. coli. When the animals were slaughtered the E. coli got onto some of the meat that was produced which led to an E. coli break out. As you watch the film you would see a kid, Kevin, dies from this breakout. Nothing has been done about this so far. A lot of immigrant workers are getting rid of because of the factory system so they aren’t needed anymore. This shows that the food industry is controlling the workers, farmers, and

coli, another undisclosed truth comes to light in this documentary. To get rid of the E. coli, our meat products are thoroughly cleansed with ammonia. Ammonia is a chemical that most Americans recognize as a household cleaning item, and now this chemical is in our meat. We are being secretly exposed to this chemical and it is not even guaranteed to work 100% of the time. However, this is not the only chemical used in our food. When eating an out of season fruit, Americans run the risk of eating a fruit that is artificially ripened. Since tomatoes cannot grow in America in the winter, they are picked while green from overseas. Once they arrive in America and are ready to go to market, they are ripened with ethylene gas. Ethylene gas “contains traces of arsenic and phosphorus hydride” (Siddiqui). These traces can cause chronic health defects such as “vomiting, diarrhea with or without blood, burning sensation of the chest and abdomen, thirst, weakness, permanent eye damage, etc.” (Siddiqui). As we can see, the major food companies hide very serious issues from the public, because if they knew the truth, many consumers would be appalled and possibly stop buying their products.

According to Martorelli, (2015) a researcher “It has been proven that cattle are one of the main reservoir of E. coli. Meat becomes contaminated during the slaughter and the use of raw faecal as fertilizers, and the contamination of drinking water are the major ways in which this microorganism can enter the human food chain” (p.1) E. coli is contracted via uncooked meats or other food contaminated by fecal material or swimming in contaminated water.

McDonalds is by far one of the largest and most influential fast food chains in the world. This one corporation can change and influence a very large amount of the United States economy all on its own. If McDonalds were to go bankrupt and close all of its restaurants then millions of people would lose their jobs. McDonalds provides health care and other basic benefits to all of its full time employees, and without these benefits then these people would go uninsured and could not make it. McDonalds also makes up a very large amount of capital put into the United States economy by its customers. Many people who cannot afford to go to a nice sit-down restaurant opt to the much cheaper alternative and decide to go to McDonalds to buy food. A large

The companies are competing with McDonalds in that they are marketing more, their market share is high, and they are offering competitive prices to consumers in the marketplace.

McDonald's Corporation is a brand that is well known around the world. McDonald's is, of course, a fast food chain that serves hamburgers, French fries, sodas, and other items. They serve cheap food in a variety of portion sizes that many people find delicious. This

Mass produced beef, although harmful to the environment, is relatively inexpensive. Mass production of meat is agribusiness, which comes with beneficial government subsidies that result in less cost for factory farms. The meat industry has perfected the efficiency of slaughtering its cattle and making it available for purchase by consumers in a timely fashion. What most consumers fail to realize is how powerful the meat industry is in the political arena. A Frontline journalist reported, “Yet despite the relatively low level of financial contributions, the industry has succeeded in weakening or preventing many new meat-safety initiatives in recent years” (Johnson, 2002). The meat companies are a political force with a strong voice in Washington, which has only gained more influence

McDonalds is very successful company, established in 1954 by Ray Kroc. The primary conception of the business was to be a burger shop which after time turned into most recognisable fast food restaurants chain in the world. Company is present in 117 countries all over the world with more than 35 000 branches (McDonald’s website).