Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

Then instead of slaughtering one cow at a time and grinding that meat into a couple hundred burgers. Slaughterhouses slaughter thousands of cattle and grind all the meat together. Now there is no variation of taste in the meat. Finish the meat off with an acid bath to kill any E. Coli O157: H7, and pray that one of those 1000 cows didn’t have “Mad Cow Disease” (No Known way to kill prions). This power permeates all matters of Fast Food. Fries, soda, buns, equipment, employees, and most influentially: Marketing.

The quality of the meat that is fed to children in school and at the fast food restaurants is, in some cases, horrendous. "The animals used to make about one quarter of the

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.

In the book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser talks about the working conditions of fast food meat slaughterhouses. In the chapter “The Most Dangerous Job,” one of the workers, who despised his job, gave Schlosser an opportunity to walk through a slaughterhouse. As the author was progressed backwards through the slaughterhouse, he noticed how all the workers were sitting very close to each other with steel protective vests and knives. The workers were mainly young Latina women, who worked swiftly, accurately, while trying not to fall behind. Eric Schlosser explains how working in the slaughterhouses is the most dangerous profession – these poor working conditions and horrible treatment of employees in the plants are beyond

Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, is a stark and unrelenting look into the fast food industry that has ingrained itself in not only American culture, but in culture around the world. There is almost no place on earth that the golden arches has not entered. Aside from Antarctica, there is a McDonalds on every continent, and the number of countries that have fast food restaurants is growing on a daily basis. Schlosser describes in detail what happens behind the scenes, before the hamburger and fries come wrapped in environmentally safe paper and are consumed by millions of people daily

The intense advertising and responsibilities is not the only thing we saw in Fast Food Nation that effected children. The quality of the meat that is fed to children in school and at the fast food restaurants is in some cases horrendous. Children are not the only age group that eats this tainted food, but they are more greatly

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.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print. While I was looking at the cover of the book, I noticed that it included the words “All American Meal”, and I wondered what that meant. For me when I hear those word I picture a McDonald’s, or any other fast food restaurant. Why is that? Is it because the United States comes in at 12th for the most obese country, with 35% of the population in overweight (Worldatlas). Or is it because we have made a name for ourselves, by being the country that consumes the most fast food (Economist)? In the first chapter of the book The American Way, Schlosser is disscussing various fast foods we eat such as McDonald 's, Domino 's, and describes how fast food has impacted American lives, such as obesity in all age groups due to the appeals to younger children. He talks about the McDonald brothers and Carl Karcher and how they established McDonald 's and Carl 's Jr.

To begin with, this paper is a review of the book “Fast Food Nation.” Initially, the book describes the unknown dangers of numerous fast food restaurants and its suppliers. Amazingly, the information in this book will shock people and will hopefully make people think twice before grabbing any fast food at McDonalds. Eric Schlosser’s novel is a modern take on Upton Sinclair’s

Schlosser also provides the facts of Salmonella appearing in the cooking of the infamous greasy meals, “A tiny uncooked particle of hamburger meat can contain enough of this pathogen to kill you.”(201). Schlosser’s verification of insecurity in the daily meals American’s consume can tug of the heart strings of the readers. Fast food and its eye opening facts is a reminder to the audience that not only are they hurting themselves, but that the effects are also affecting the family members and the ones who care most about the individual. What’s in the meat is not only a major concern, but also a major safety issue.

He wants to show a personal account of the difficulties that everyday people endure trying to accommodate different aspects of a fast food meal possible to the consumer. By stressing this, Schlosser also shows the need for the sanitation of fast food to be dealt seriously. He directs these ideas towards the less informed of American society. Schlosser wants to reach out to those that wish to become more informed of the fast food aspect of America, and to Americans, fast food has become a normal aspect of life. Even Professer Pothukuchi, of Wayne State University agrees that “fast food is destroying us: individuals, communities, work and family life, and indeed, our very connections with the world” (Pothukuchi 1). This book is intending the audience to steer away from what seems harmless, because fast food seems innocuous, when in reality is the opposite.

People today believe that the government is supposed to eliminate any possible danger from the food they consume, but that is not the case. In the book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of The All-American Meal written by Eric Schlosser, he discusses numerous problems with food production. Some of these issues are discussed in the “Epilogue”, “What’s In Meat”, and “Most Dangerous Job” chapters where Schlosser elaborates on the government’s role and how workers are mistreated. In the article, “U.S. Meatpacking Under Fire: Human Rights Group Calls for Line Speed Reduction, ERGO Standards,” it explains how the working conditions in the meat packaging industry are hazardous and are violations of basic human rights. Although workers are affected by the government’s role in the food industry, consumers are affected as well. The consequences of the lack of governmental oversight, like food contamination and others, are discussed in the film Food Inc. “Escaping the Regulatory Net: Why Regulatory Reform Can Fail Consumers”, an academic journal written by Henry Rothstein, explains how “putting consumers first” is difficult for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to accomplish because with consumer’s interests that means regulatory reforms are most likely going to fail.

Mcdonaldization is one aspect of Americanization and it is widespread throughout the world. Firstly, food itself is an aspect of culture. And secondly, the system of Mcdonaldization and the presence of fast food chains can influence the habits and way of lives of the locals. For example, the French are proud of having localized cuisine, which reflects their unique culture, however, many critics argued that fast food chains are quickly crowding out local food products as people live a more fast paced life and prefer fast food. America is the biggest producer of popular culture goods. (Levin Institute, 2014), and people especially teenagers are increasingly influenced by pop culture. Pop culture is manifested around the world through movies, music, television shows, fast food, fashion and other entertainment and consumer goods. Therefore, a nation’s cultural identity can be threatened and diminish over time as people become influenced by western culture.

He notes that over the last thirty years there has been an infiltration of fast foods in every part of the American society. The fast food industry took off from modest hot dogs and hamburgers in the Southern Californian part and kept on spreading to all corners of the American soil, in which a broad range of products are sold to customers who can afford to pay for them. Fast foods are sold in restaurants and drive-through, airports, stadiums, learning institutions, railway stations, in

Over the last 50 years, the fast food industry not only sold hamburgers and French fries. It has been a key factor for vast social changes throughout America. It has been responsible for breaking traditional American values and reinstating new social standards that specifically aims to benefit the industry’s growth. These social standards have inevitably changed the way the American youth respond to education and self-responsibility. Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, excellently uses logic and statistical data to inform the audience regarding the fast food industry’s working force. Although Schlosser is insightful about the exploitation of the American youth by the fast food industries, his