Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation Exposes the High Cost of Cheap Food

Schlosser describes the environment of the meat packing plants serving fast food companies in a startling straightforward narrative of his visit through a meat packing plant. He describes a brutal, and sometimes unsanitary environment. The rights of animals are a very broad and complex subject, but Schlosser touches on this as he describes the slaughterhouse floor. He describes animals in various states of disembowelment. Sometimes the animals were dead or stunned; sometimes they were thrashing about wildly in the last throws of death. The slaughter room floor was described as being covered with blood and feces. Employees worked at a furious pace to meet the day's quota. What bothered me most was the fact that this meat is not only prepared for fast food companies but also contracted out to serve our children's schools.

The All-American meal takes more out of Americans to make then at first glance. Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation delves deep into the intricate workings of the fast food industry to expose mistreatment and cruelty towards workers in the business, just as Upton Sinclair had done in the early 1900’s regarding the meat packing industry. Schlosser is able to bring light to the darkness behind the All-American meal through extensive research and personal confrontations of which he has high regards for.

Profit margins for slaughterhouses are very low. The faster the workers perform, the more profit comes in. If a person gets injured, the production line slows down with huge losses of profit. “The annual bonuses of plant foreman and supervisors are often based in part of the injury rate of their workers. Instead of creating a safer workplace, bonus schemes encourage

The story of the fast food industry and its effect on the world is well told in the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Schlosser makes the claim that, what started out as a special treat for the kids eventually ended up defining a way of life. During a brief period of time, the fast food industry has helped transform not only the American diet, but also our countryside, economy, workforce, and popular culture. The book thoroughly describes how important the two factors of money and power are in today's society. The book clearly establishes the broader thesis that as consumers, we should know what we eat even if it makes us uncomfortable by the knowledge.

Many Fast food companies target children because they are young and are good at persuading their parents to get what they want. “It’s not just getting kids to whine” (Schlosser 43). Fast food companies target kids based on what they are looking for which is money. “The decade of the child consumer” (Schlosser 43). Americans need to pay close attention to how their children spend their money. As more kids visit fast food restaurants, companies will come out with more items for kids to purchase as time goes along. More companies in America will keep targeting kids because they see an advantage in it that the reader does not see. “We see this as a great opportunity” (Scholosser 48). In the meantime, an employee at a fast food restaurant will sell fast food items to kids because they want their money in order to increase the business. As more fast food companies make sales, this will create a dynamic bond between parents and their children because the reader ponders how the fast food industry is affecting their children. As more kids leave after school to go and have something to eat with friends at a Taco Bell, or Pizza Hut, kids will buy food based on what they may be craving during lunchtime. “Research has shown children are more likely to choose foods with familiar logos” (Heyes). At some point in time, there will be millions of parents who will talk to their kids about their active interest in visiting fast food restaurants after school all of the time. The reader may

Knowing what is in your fast food might make you think twice the next time you devour it. As the rise of the fast food nation in America has increased to an all-time high, so has the weight and waists of Americans all around the country. Not only has the United States grown to love the acquired taste of greasy golden fries and juicy burgers, it has also grown ignorant to the way their food is prepared. In the novel, “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal”(2002), by Eric Schlosser, he makes compelling points in his position against the fast food industry.

Fast-food industries may try to “target children in their ads”, but it ultimately comes down to the adults-the parents- choosing to dine at these places and pork up their kids on the high-sugar sodas, salty French fries, and greasy burgers. If they would just take the time to look out the window, they would see the healthy alternatives to fast-food, and how the alternatives are literally right in front of

One of the most shocking books of the generation is Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation. The novel includes two sections, "The American Way" and "Meat and Potatoes,” that aid him in describing the history and people who have helped shape up the basics of the “McWorld.” Fast Food Nation jumps into action at the beginning of the novel with a discussion of Carl N. Karcher and the McDonald’s brothers. He explores their roles as “Gods” of the fast-food industry. Schlosser then visits Colorado Springs and investigates the life and working conditions of the typical fast-food industry employee. Starting out the second section, Schlosser travels to the western side of Colorado to examine the effects presented to the agriculture world in the new

When eating a burger from a fast food restaurant, the average person does not stop to think how the food they are eating was made. As convenient as it may seem, the fast food industry is a $200 billion a year giant, and many people simply do not know the impact that it truly has. In Fast Food Nation some believe that food safety regulations can be sidestepped and low meat quality and poor management are putting the health of many Americans in danger.

However, A close study of “The Most Dangerous Jobs in America” by Eric Schlosser he makes it clear that slaughterhouse are disadvantageous and harmful, when Schlosser states, “They are workers employers are not afraid to lose: illegal, illiterate, impoverished, untrained.” (Schlosser) When he stated this quote, he makes it clear that most of the worker at slaughterhouse don’t know how to read or write, illegal immigrants, poor, and unskilled and they don’t care if they lose them because they can find another illegal, illiterate, impoverished, and untrained worker. All in all, When Schlosser writes, "Every year more than one-quarter of the meatpacking workers in America-roughly forty thousand men and women-suffer from a knife injury or other illness that requires medical attention beyond first aid” (Schlosser) this demonstrates that the rate of injuries and illness is very high and the injuries are bigger to the point where they can lead to illness or death. Overall, the author proves that slaughterhouse are more disadvantages to worker’s lives than sweatshops because

Eric Schlosser is one of the authors who describes the fast food phenomenon in his book Fast Food Nation. According to him, the biggest problem is the fast food industry that is increasing day by day. Fast food has affected not only the restaurants and the market, but also all the sectors of people's life, from the professional life to the personal one. This affirmation is sustained by Schlosser's statement: "Fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society. " ( Schlosser 3 ) The fast food industry has got into institutions and parts of the world that no one believed would be affected. Moreover, the power of fast food can be seen by taking a look at the American individual, who gives fast food different

Fast Food Nation explains significant events that have lead to injuries that all occurred on the meatpacking territory. Fast Food Nation provides the reader with evidence from workers who actually have seen and survived the horrific accidents. Coming to work every day was stressful knowing that they were about to enter a high risk environment, this was nerve-racking and a frightening. These workers had to attend work everyday not knowing if they were coming back home with a limb less, or one risk of being hurt. At one point, the meatpacking business was the most dangerous job. These conditions were seen as a normality to the owners who ran the factory. These unsympathetic owners just wanted the work to be done, and finished fast. The faster the more money was their motto. They tried everything in their power to hid the reality of how they were running our food process, this secret allowed them to make more profits from those who had no idea. There were always those who would want to visit the factories and the owners would show them what they wanted to see,taking them to the welcoming and unblemished areas, again, putting up a barrier between us and the reality of how they run their factories.

The fast food industry has been growing dramatically during the last few years. For this reason, we should try to find out what are the several factors why fast food consumption keeps growing among young people and adults. Therefore, as we have seen, the popularity of fast food is spreading rapidly among many people due to the following three main reasons: good taste, convenient time, and price. Personally, working for a fast food restaurant for a brief moment in my life, I can attest to this. Marketing also plays a big part to more people eating fast food. It’s in our culture in America to expect fast food companies to market and strategize their ways to make us, the consumers, to buy more food and consume more food so they can make more profit. Especially now with commercials and social media. The fast food industry has thrived in the modern era. It’s thriving so much, the industry is growing faster than the U.S economy, at

Fast food chains are battling many different things on a regular basis such as sanitization, low quality food, a lack of cleanliness and not properly trained employees. Another thing that fast food chains have been at war with for decades now is targeting youth. Is it right for them to do so when they are not old enough to make informed decisions? Many companies target children but fast food seems to be what is paying the price. Even though I do not believe that fast food chains should be targeting youth I also believe that ultimately the parents are the ones who choose what their kids eat, so why is it that the fast food chains’ are being targeted for targeting youth? It is because of how aggressive they are and how they manipulate youth and parents.

First, when you think about American Food Culture fast food restaurants come to mind.The chains of highly profitable fast pit stops offer you a range of fast food meals, that poor in nutrition and bring to your body a large amount of carbohydrates, sugar, unhealthy fats and sodium. Most of the food that people consume in fast food restaurants are highly processed. Marketing department of those billion dollars companies never sleep to attract more consumers, including young kids and different nations. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reports that in 2006, the food industry spent about $870 million on marketing to children under the age of 11 and over $1