Restaurant Report Card: What's In Your Fast Food Meat?

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

Chapter four begins with a typical night on the job for a Little Caesars employee. The employee is driving to a customers house to deliver a pizza, he then collect the money owed, and drives back to the Little Caesars Pizza where he is employed at. The author then tells us about the local Little Caesars manager, Dave Feamster. He informs the readers on how Feamster was supposed to be playing in the National Hockey League, but an injury prohibited him from doing that. When a friend suggested that he become a franchisee of a fast food restaurant, he was a bit hesitant. Dave Feamster soon gave it a try and became and ended up becoming a franchisee for Little Caesars Pizza.

However, most experts say that overall meat is safer now than it's ever been. There is still a risk, though. For example, according to a study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, almost half of our meat and poultry contain Staphylococcus aureus, a type of bacteria that can cause serious infections as well as death (Andrew E. Waters). Here's what Lance B. Price, Ph.D., senior author of the study said about the bacteria, “We know that nearly half of our food supply's meat and poultry are contaminated with S. aureus, and more than half of those are multidrug resistant.” However, he goes on to say, “What we don't know [is] how often these transfer to people. We need more studies to quantify the public health impact (Gardner).” Furthermore, Pascal James Imperato, M.D., dean of the School of Public Health at SUNY-Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY said, “Numerous studies of this type done in other countries...have generally come up with the same findings, that multidrug-resistant S. aureus are present in a variety of animal meats.” "But, so far, no one has been able to draw a connection between the presence of those bacteria in meats and human illness (Gardner)." So, as one can see, even though S. aureus is

Are fast food chains always the best choice? Eric Schlosser presents us with some ways in which the fast food industry changes communities for the worse. He provides examples like the town of Greeley, Colorado, as well as other places, whose communities have been irrevocably changed by the fast food industry when slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants set up shop there. The fast food chains ' vast purchasing power and their demand for a uniform product have encouraged fundamental changes in how cattle are raised, slaughtered, and processed into ground beef. These changes have made meatpacking -- once a highly skilled, highly paid occupation -- into the most dangerous job in the United States, performed by armies of poor, transient immigrants whose injuries often go unrecorded and uncompensated. And the same meat industry practices that endanger these workers have facilitated the introduction of deadly pathogens,

Then Tom continues education with a little education on the variety of antibiotics and how “crucial for treating serious human infections” (Philpott). Using a hotlink to a well-known credible organization like the “Food and Drug Administration” back up some of his statistics regarding over use of antibiotics in livestock operations. Tom continually notes

In the book, Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser discusses the problems that the nation is facing with fast food restaurants. Schlosser wrote this book because he was concerned with where the fast food industry was taking America. He voices his concern about the children and their health regarding meat bacteria, and the fat content of the food. He also mentions how potato farmers, cattle ranchers, and chicken raisers are suffering from the industry controlling prices too low. Another worry Schlosser has is how the meat packing factories for these restaurants treat their workers and ultimately how careful they are with the meat. There are many horrifying stories about the harsh injuries and

By weight, eighty percent of antibiotics are used in agriculture to “fatten animals” and “protect them from the conditions in which they are raised” (McKenna). Animals are given micro-doses of antibiotics, that is, a small amount of antibiotics to prevent diseases from occurring. This micro-dosage amount allows for mutation that Fleming described. The routine use of antibiotics in agriculture has led to “[sixty-five] percent of chicken breasts” and “[forty-four] percent of ground beef” to house bacteria “resistant to tetracycline”. Additionally, “[eleven] percent of pork chops carried bacteria resistant to five classes of drugs” (McKenna). These bacteria then spread from animals to the humans who eat them, causing humans to get infections which cannot be treated. The issue isn’t as simple as ceasing to give antibiotics to animals. Most animals raised for consumption live in an environment ripe for infections and diseases to spread. Instead of giving the animals more room to live, the majority of farmers opt to give the animals antibiotics. For cattle, This prevents diseases and death to the immature weaned calves and cattle which saves the rancher both time and money—passing on the savings to the consumers. In a free market society higher prices tend to not go well. However, if antibiotics became useless farmers would have to “[enlarge] barns, [cut] down on crowding, and [delay] weaning”, which ultimately would increase the costs of raising livestock

Many feel that the fast food industry is providing a valuable service by catering to consumer needs; that it is inexpensive and easily accessible. For people who don't have time to prepare meals, for households in which both parents work, there's no question it provides a service. But what is the true cost of this convenience? In the book, Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser reveals that the cost is the lives of the people who work in the meat processing plants. Meat packing is now the most dangerous job in the United States.

This is exactly what the truth seeking author, Eric Schlosser, examines when viewing America’s growing fast food problem regarding the quality, conditions, and health of our citizens. His book published in 2001, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, discusses and provides evidence of our ongoing dilemma occurring in the United States today. Schlosser argues that the fast food chains and the slaughterhouses/meatpacking industries are run by consumerism and commercialism, two ideals and have become intrinsic to the American identity. Our society is so caught up in the fast food crave that we forget to question

Antibiotic use in animals has recently captured the attention of various professionals as the blatant, adverse effects have become increasingly prevalent. Agricultural manufacturers carelessly inject livestock with antibiotics in order to maximize their weight gain by minimizing the amount of energy consumed in fighting illnesses. This broad use of antibiotics in food-producing animals has contributed to the emergence and distribution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, resulting in either mild or fatal illnesses. To put the severity of this issue in perspective, legislators must realize that 1 in 5 antibiotic-resistant infections are caused by bacteria from food and animals. Although antibiotic use in animals is not the sole culprit of the

Fast Food Nation: The Darker Side of the All-American Meal is very interesting and stimulating. The author, Eric Schlosser, makes excellent points in all his chapters, for example in the epilogue he describes how we can make a difference and that is by not buying fast food and by going somewhere else to eat. Also is chapter ten, he explains how the fast food industry is like a circus. However, not every chapter is as critical for people to read as chapter one. Chapter one is the most important chapter because it describes how fast food originated (the founding fathers), the chapter shows how corrupt and back-stabbing the fast food industry has become, and how gullible Americans can be.

Believe it or not, there was a time when the food industry was 100% natural and free of man-made inventions. But, as population grew, so did the efforts to try and produce more food for a cheaper price. Caring for livestock during the 1900’s was not an easy task because, as everyone might know by now, animals are fragile and susceptible to many diseases which led to costly deaths that companies were not fond of. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that a group of scientists from the US, discovered that adding antibiotics in animal feed increased the growth rate of the livestock. By 2001, The Union of Concerned Scientists reported that nearly 90% of the antibiotics used in livestock were being used for non-therapeutic purposes, in other words, it was

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.

Global influences of the fast food industry are shown in the health problems in society today. The cheap production of meat and grains for the fast food industry cause harm to the environment, humans, and animals. The fast food that is consumed is not only bad for the health of people but also for the environment. As food provides more than just sustenance; it increasingly has come to shape and mediate our understanding of ourselves and our culture.

In addition, the film establishes a relationship ground with audiences to construct pathos. The assumption of infections from feeding animals with antibiotics is not valid yet. “70% of antibiotics in the U.S are used in the farm and agricultures.” Although the